Security overshadows Australia poll budget splurge<\/p>\n
Paul Tait
\nReuters\/Canberra<\/p>\n
Security fears after a deadly car bomb blast outside Australia's
\nembassy in Jakarta overshadowed campaigning for an Oct. 9
\nelection, pushing aside even a multi-billion dollar budget
\nbonanza announced on Friday.<\/p>\n
Prime Minister John Howard and opposition Labor leader Mark
\nLatham suspended their campaigns and returned to Canberra on
\nFriday for security briefings about Thursday's blast, which
\nkilled nine Indonesians and injured 182 people.<\/p>\n
They arrived in the national capital to newspaper headlines
\nthat read \"Evil at our gate\" and \"Attack on Australia\".<\/p>\n
\"We will not have our foreign policy or security policy
\ndetermined by terrorist threats,\" Howard said. \"Once a country
\nstarts doing that, it's handing over control of its future.\"<\/p>\n
Howard announced a national security review after the blast,
\nwhich came days before an Indonesian presidential run-off and two
\ndays before the third anniversary of the Sept. 11 hijacked
\nairliner attacks on the United States.<\/p>\n
Despite the review, Australia has left its security threat
\nlevel at \"medium\", the second lowest level on its four-tier alert
\nsystem. Security is to be beefed up at airports and other
\ntransport hubs, and at polling booths.<\/p>\n
Howard and Latham presented a united front in saying Australia
\nwould not bow to terrorism. Neither would say if they thought the
\nblast would have an impact on the election outcome out of respect
\nfor victims and their families.<\/p>\n
But the two leaders have clashed in the past over Australia's
\ninvolvement in the U.S.-led war on Iraq, an issue that will be
\nunder renewed focus after the Jakarta blast.<\/p>\n
Australia's election is being keenly watched in London and
\nWashington because it precedes the U.S. presidential vote on Nov.
\n2 and a British general election widely expected to be called in
\nMay or June. Security and the war on terror are key themes for
\nall three polls and British Prime Minister Tony Blair and
\nPresident George W. Bush will watch how close ally Howard fares.<\/p>\n
Howard said a security review was under way but vowed not to
\npull Australian troops out of Iraq as the Jamaah Islamiyah
\nnetwork had purportedly demanded in an unauthenticated Internet
\nstatement in which it claimed responsibility for the Jakarta
\nattack.<\/p>\n
Latham, who is running neck-and-neck with Howard a month
\nbefore voting day, has said he wants Australia's 850 troops in
\nand around Iraq to come home soon. Howard is adamant they will
\nremain as long as they are needed.<\/p>\n
Latham declined comment when asked his views on withdrawing
\nAustralia's troops in light of the Jakarta blast.<\/p>\n
\"It's not a time for making any political points or related
\nobservations,\" he told reporters in northern Queensland state.<\/p>\n
Security analysts have said the rift between the major parties
\nover Iraq has made Australia vulnerable to an attack like the
\nMadrid train bombings that killed 191 people three days before
\nSpain's March 11 elections.<\/p>\n
Latest Treasury projections show Australia's economy poised to
\ndeliver a larger-than-expected 2004\/05 budget surplus, more than
\ndoubling previous forecasts to A$5.3 billion (US$3.7 billion).<\/p>\n
The government would normally have trumpeted the figures as it
\npushes the message of sound economic management.<\/p>\n
But the message was overshadowed by the Jakarta blast. A
\nsubdued Treasurer Peter Costello said the strong fiscal position
\nwould help Australia fight those who seek to harm the nation.<\/p>\n
\"We have got new challenges -- we have terrorism challenges,
\nwe have security challenges,\" he told reporters in Melbourne.<\/p>\n
\"We have got to keep our economy strong to get through those,\"
\nCostello said.<\/p>\n
Many commentators trod gingerly when looking at the possible
\nelection implications of the Jakarta blast, although some said
\nLatham would suffer because Howard is seen as a strong and
\nresolute leader.<\/p>\n
\"The bombing in Jakarta could become the event that crushed
\nMark Latham's bid to get a Labor government elected,\" political
\ncommentator Malcolm Farr wrote in The Daily Telegraph.<\/p>\n
There is also a growing view that voters would be less likely
\nto opt for a change of government in the face of security fears.<\/p>\n
\"What normally happens in these circumstances is that people
\nare more likely to vote for the incumbent government,\" political
\nanalyst Ian McAllister told Reuters.<\/p>\n
Before the Jakarta blast, television straw polls consistently
\nshowed that the nation's robust economy, one of the
\nindustrialized world's strongest, was the issue that would
\ndetermine how most Australians cast their votes.<\/p>",
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