John Howard eyes August poll date

By GREG ANSLEY Australia correspondent

CANBERRA - As American Ambassador Tom Schieffer yesterday warned against any weakening of the ties between the United States and Australia, speculation grew that Prime Minister John Howard was intending to take the nation to an election as early as August 7 with the alliance at its core.

The Government already has an A$100 million ($110 million) advertising campaign under way to sell its policies and the largesse it doled out in last month's Budget, and is basking in yet another poll showing a surge against Labor.

Howard is also turning up the heat on Opposition leader Mark Latham over the US alliance, which despite growing opposition to the war in Iraq continues to be supported by most Australians.

This week the Government is expected to introduce legislation needed for the introduction of its already-signed free trade agreement with Washington, which Labor has yet to support.

While the legislation will easily pass through the Government-controlled House of Representatives, Labor could join minor parties in the Senate to block the parts of the agreement needing parliamentary approval.

Latham is attempting to throw the issue back to Howard by claiming the Government was reneging on a promise to wait until a Senate inquiry was completed - denying time to properly study the legislation - but risks exposing himself to another attack as "anti-American".

Labor is also in difficulties over a weekend announcement that Australia would next month sign a memorandum of understanding on its part in the "Son of Star Wars" missile defence programme.

While Howard is securing the domestic front with a rush of new policies, backed by the big-spending, tax-cutting Budget, he is focusing heavily on Latham's inexperience in foreign affairs and what the Government is painting as Labor's animosity towards the US.

The two fronts appear to be making ground, with a Sydney Morning Herald poll confirming a marked trend against Labor and a Government lead in the primary vote for the first time since Latham became leader in February.

Although the poll said Labor would have won an election by 52 per cent to 48 per cent after the distribution of preferences, the Government had nudged to a 43 per cent lead in primary votes, after trailing 39 per cent to Labor's 43 per cent last month.

Howard also widened his lead over Latham as preferred prime minister to nine percentage points.

The Government is portraying Labor as a threat to national security because of its opposition to the war in Iraq and Latham's promise to bring Australian troops home, its refusal to endorse the free trade agreement and concerns over the degree to which Howard has tied Australia to the US.

Latham's proposed withdrawal from Iraq has been criticised by President George W. Bush and senior US Administration officials and was attacked in a major policy speech by Howard on Friday night.

"I believe the current leader of the Opposition has embarked on a course that would damage our alliance relationship [with the US]," he said.

At a parliamentary hearing into the US defence relationship yesterday, Schieffer denied the US was trying to influence the outcome of the impending election and said Bush's comments were an "upfront answer to an upfront question" by Australian reporters.

But he warned that terrorism would be at the centre of the alliance for many years to come and that this was not a time for the two nations to pull apart.

"The stakes are too high, the risks are too great for us to be comfortable in going our separate ways.

"The world may still be a dangerous place but surely we are safer in facing it together than apart."