Fed: Ministers play down poll fears

AAP General News (Australia)
04-01-2001
Fed: Ministers play down poll fears

By Shane Wright

CANBERRA, April 1 AAP - Senior ministers today played down the government's poor showing
in opinion polls as Prime Minister John Howard remained committed to a year-end election.

Defence Minister Peter Reith and Family and Community Services Minister Amanda Vanstone
said opinion polls putting the government up to 13 points behind Labor were cause for
concern.

But both said they held out hope the difference could be turned around in coming months.

Senator Vanstone, addressing the Liberal Party's NSW state council, said polls ahead
of the 1998 election put the coalition behind Labor.

In 1990 and 1993, Labor was also behind the coalition in opinion polls before going
on to win the election.

"You can clearly see that months from an election is not always the best time for an
opposition to peak in the polls," she said.

"The current polls gives us no reason whatsoever to write off our chances later this year."

Mr Reith said he believed voters would return to the government after they looked at
the policies of the Labor Party.

But he conceded the current polls, on top of the 10 per cent swing to Labor in the
Ryan by-election, was evidence enough of the problems facing the government.

"We are obviously not travelling as well as we would like to be but politics can be
a pretty volatile business," he told the Nine Network.

"There's still the remaining months of this year until whenever the election is going
to be held, I presume sort of pretty late in the year, November-December."

Mr Howard gave no indication he is considering an early poll.

He said three year terms were short enough.

"Why would I bring the election forward? What is to be achieved by that? I mean, people
complain about unnecessary early elections. We have only three years.

"My intention would be to run the full three years and may I say, I've said that ever
since the last election.

"It's not something I've started to say because the polls are pretty ordinary at the moment."

Their comments comes as One Nation leader Pauline Hanson said her party would stand
candidates in every lower house seat at the election.

Ms Hanson also said her party would block any foreign takeovers of Australian companies
if the Australian dollar fell below US60 cents.

"If the dollar is under 60 cents, don't allow any foreign takeover, or any foreign
investments in Australia, with the dollar being as low as it is," she told Channel Seven.

Presidential candidate for Australian Young Labor, Ben Heraghty, said it was clear
voters were set to dump Mr Howard.

"If (Mr Howard) was on Survivor, he would be the first one voted off the island," he
said in a statement.

AAP sw/br

KEYWORD: POLL NIGHTLEAD

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