Canberra - Australia moved closer yesterday to an election fought on the divisive issue of race as the Senate passed the government's Aboriginal land rights reform bill with major amendments forced by opposition parties.
The Prime Minister, Mr John Howard, told reporters the changes were "unacceptable", and sources said he was privately talking of an election between July and late October 1998. "We will vote against them [the amendments] tomorrow. We have tried hard, we have already compromised a great deal and we aren't prepared to go any further."
The government-dominated House of Representatives delayed debate on the reforms yesterday, but was expected to reject the Senate rewrite of the Howard bill.