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.