Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard staked her party's re-election bid on the economy's resilience, promising on Monday more jobs and less tax on business if she wins the tightest vote in nearly 50 years.
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"We emerged from this global economic crisis, the worst global economic shock since the Great Depression, we emerged stronger than any other major economy in the world," Gillard told a low-key official launch of party's campaign in the election battlefield city of Brisbane.
"I want to put a priority on making sure that we do not see children inherit joblessness from their parents. A job is essential for a family's future, a strong economy is essential for a nation's future, I will build that strong economy."
Gillard's center-left government, fighting to win a knife-edge election in five days, has a narrow lead in opinion polls over conservative opposition leader Tony Abbott.
Labour party spokesman and Finance Minister Chris Bowen predicted the election would be the tightest vote the country had seen since 1961, with the result possibly unclear for days.
"This will be tight, it will go down to the wire, it will be a long night," Bowen said.
The election will decide the fate of the government's planned 30 percent mining tax on big iron ore and coal miners, such as BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and Xstrata, and its plans for the broadband network, involving telcoms firm Telstra.
Opposition leader Abbott, a combative former seminarian, has promised to abandon the profits-based mining tax and broadband network, as well the government's plans for a future carbon trading scheme to fight climate change.
Gillard, arriving to a standing ovation and speaking without notes, stressed strong economic management and warned voters could not risk voting for Abbott, who she said was attacking spending while making promises worth A$1 billion a day.
"I will not delay bringing the budget to surplus by one hour, by one day," Gillard said, mirroring U.S. President Barack Obama's "Yes, we can" slogan with a "Yes, we will" variation.
"I am asking you... to say as you cast that vote, 'Yes, we will move forward with confidence and optimism, yes, we will show care and concern for each other'," she said.
Australia, under Labor's leadership, dodged the global financial crisis bullet, as the only developed world economy not to fall into recession, thanks to an aggressive government spending, low interest rates, and demand for its mineral resources from China and India.
Both parties have campaigned on relative austerity, but Gillard, in her speech, highlighted her health policy, promising rebates for rural patients and money for medical specialists to treat patients over the Internet.
Kevin Rudd, the man Gillard replaced in a party coup in June, was also on hand as the party tries to neutralize voter anger in his marginal seat-packed home state of Queensland over the way he was dumped without completing one term as prime minister.
The latest Reuters Poll Trend shows Labor marginally ahead, while a Newspoll poll published on Monday was the second in a few days which showed Labor with a lead over the opposition, although surveys have shown the lead changing hands frequently.
Support for Labor was at 52 percent while the conservative coalition was also on 48 percent on a two-party preferred basis, the Newspoll survey in the Australian newspaper showed.
Gillard retained a 15 percent lead in the preferred prime minister ratings, with 50 percent support to Abbott's 35, helped by a strong economy which has grown 4.3 percent since the start of 2008, amid the global credit crunch.
Abbott, in a pitch to voters concerned about immigration and border security, said earlier that he would personally decide which asylum seeker boats would be turned away if he won, revisiting an issue that has helped swing past elections.
Even if she wins, Gillard could be dealing with a difficult parliament with a much reduced Labor majority in the lower house.
She will also face a Senate upper house as obstructive as the last, with the balance of power resting with the strengthened Greens with an environmental focus far tougher than Labor's. That will make Gillard's emissions trade scheme almost impossible to pass in a form enjoying wide business and investor support.
(Writing by Rob Taylor in Canberra; Editing by Miral Fahmy)
Source: Reuters
