Aussie poll war focuses on SE Asia terror
Aussie poll war focuses on SE Asia terror
Michelle Nichols, Reuters, Canberra
Australian Prime Minister John Howard tried to reassure nervous
Asian neighbors on Tuesday after saying he wanted to strike
terror threats at the source, a key difference with opposition
Labor before an Oct. 9 election.
Center-left Labor crept ahead of the conservative government
in a new opinion poll as the rival parties battled over how best
to wage the war on terror.
The Newspoll, published in The Australian newspaper, showed
center-left Labor has a five-point lead with 52.5 percent support
on a two-party preferred basis -- when minor party votes are
distributed to major parties and ultimately decide an election.
Howard startled some Asian neighbors on Monday when he
unveiled an A$100 million (US$70 million) plan to base counter-
terrorism police teams in Southeast Asia, including in Indonesia
and the Philippines.
The plan, aimed at stopping terror at its source and
preventing any possible attack on Australia, drew a lukewarm
response from Manila and was criticized by Malaysia.
On Monday, Howard also repeated a position first mooted in
December 2002 that pre-emptive action in another country was a
legitimate response to terrorism but later said any action taken
would be in cooperation with other countries.
"I wasn't saying we were going to launch an attack against
another country," Howard told Australian radio on Tuesday.
"If you're in a situation where ... you're in possession of
knowledge of a potential strike against an Australian asset
overseas or in Australia and the only alternative to stop it was
for us to take action, of course you'd take action," he said.
Australia has not been hit by a major terror attack on home
soil but 88 Australians were among 202 people killed in nightclub
bombings on the Indonesian island of Bali in 2002 that were
blamed on al Qaeda-linked Islamic militant group Jamaah
Islamiyah.
A deadly suicide car bomb outside Australia's embassy in
Jakarta 12 days ago snapped attention away from Australia's
robust economy, one of the industrialized world's strongest, and
back onto security midway through the six-week election campaign.
Indonesia's ambassador to Australia, Imron Cotan, said
countries in the region should not see the debate over pre-
emptive strikes as threatening.
"My reading is that perhaps (the government) have developed
the idea but (Jakarta) should see it from the context of internal
debate of two political parties who are wanting to win the
elections," Cotan told Australian radio on Tuesday.
Labor leader Mark Latham and his foreign affairs spokesman
Kevin Rudd said the government's "hairy-chested" comments were
damaging Australia's standing in Southeast Asia.
"Labor won't be launching unilateral strikes on other
countries, on their sovereign territory without telling them,"
Latham told Australian radio.
"Because ... if it's like Iraq, that the intelligence is not
right, the purpose is not true, you can imagine the military
escalation that follows," he said.
Latham has said he wants Australia's 850 troops in and around
Iraq home by Christmas, while Howard is adamant they will stay as
long as they are needed.
The Newspoll of 1,674 people, taken a week after Latham
impressed commentators in a televised debate, broke a 50-50
deadlock for the past two weeks.
Howard's eight-year-old government still holds a primary vote
lead -- or first count of votes -- with 43 percent support, down
three points from a week earlier, over Labor's 41 percent, up one
point.
"There is a prospect of a change in government. Labor can win
this election and people must therefore contemplate the
consequences to the Australian economy, its defense and vitality
if Labor were to win the election," Howard told reporters.