World Notes Australia

Prime Minister Paul Keating started it, that's for sure. First he violated protocol by putting his arm on Queen Elizabeth's back during her visit to Australia last week. Then he hinted that the country might become a republic, which would end the Queen's role as head of state.

Britain's rowdy tabloids had a field day, with headlines like HANDS ORF, COBBER! and Australian political foes accused him of disrespect. Keating retorted that he had learned "self-regard for Australia, and not some cultural cringe" toward Britain. He repeated the hoary complaint that Britain's swift loss of Singapore to the Japanese in 1942 had left Australia defenseless.

In London, British Defense Secretary Tom King called Keating's charge "historically quite inaccurate." Keating's rudeness, snapped Terry Dicks, a Conservative, was unsurprising in "a country of ex-convicts," a reference to the British penal colonies started there in the 18th century. The Labor Party's Ted Leadbitter denounced Keating as "an utter buffoon." The Queen let it be known she would have no comment.