NEWS: Australian Elections: Hanging in the Balance.

This Saturday the 9th of October Australians will go to the polls to decide whether John Howard's coalition government retains power or if the Labour party headed by Mark Latham.

Polling results have swung over the last couple of weeks initially showing Latham with a slight lead but now showing Howard slightly ahead.

If Howard does win it will not be over his policy in Iraq which is disliked by the majority of Australians who feel that Howard has slavishly followed Bush and Blair into Iraq when many feel Australia's best interests should be based on regional security.Latham, who once called John Howard an "arselicker" and described U.S. President George W. Bush as the "most incompetent and dangerous president in living memory"., has pledged to withdraw Australian troops from Iraq by the end of this year and before planned elections there.

With only only a few days to polling many Australians will be nervously looking back at what happened in Spain when a bomb on a Madrid train killed many and possibly swayed voters and led to a Spanish withdrawal from Iraq.Certainly Australian targets at home and abroad are most vulnerable to a strategic attack at this time.

The fact that no Australian troops have been killed in Iraq up until now has helped Howard put security issues and Iraq down the political agenda with domestic issues ,especially a robust economy uppermost in voter's minds.

Currently, John Howard looks likely to win this election on Saturday but this election could yet hinge on events out of both candidates hands.A victory for Mark Latham's Labour party would be a blow to Bush in the run up to the U.S Elections and Blair facing election early next year.

[edit on 6-10-2004 by John bull 1]

Whether Howard wins or loses will have absolutely no effect on the US elections. I'd wager a bet that 99.9% of Americans don't even know who John Howard is.

However, one of the remaining .1% includes the John Kerry family. In fact, his younger sister Diana is reported to be in Australia attempting to undermine Howard's election bid:

Diana's big nose

Well,I think your wrong.

If Latham is elected on Saturday and Australia begins to withdraw it's troops from Iraq so they can be all out by the end of the year then I think there will be a substantial knock on effect a result of a gradual isolation.

As for what Diane Kerry said well it's the truth IMO.So you think she should lie ?? Australia and Australians are in greater danger now as a result of being part of the coalition and I think the Bali bomb is a good example.

From the feedback of 'sanctum' questioning about 40 ppl about the WORLD , friends & family... i get
the feeling that John Howard will win the election.

Why?

1. Australians are p***** off with Howard over being so gung-ho about Iraq, but the voters are not sure how Latham will protect Oz in the post 911 world.
2. A certain number feel Latham is too young.
3. The Howard Gov't has a good economic record.

Please note that all the ppl i asked have a mortgage and employment.

Originally posted by John bull 1
Well,I think your wrong.

If Latham is elected on Saturday and Australia begins to withdraw it's troops from Iraq so they can be all out by the end of the year then I think there will be a substantial knock on effect a result of a gradual isolation.

As for what Diane Kerry said well it's the truth IMO.So you think she should lie ?? Australia and Australians are in greater danger now as a result of being part of the coalition and I think the Bali bomb is a good example.

The Bali bomb wasn't specifically targetted at Australians. It was targettted at Westerners in general. The recent embassy bombong was of course different. Most of the antagonism from Indo towards Australia stems from our E Timor involvement.

I hate to say it, but with the CFMEU coming out today in favour of HOWARD ( of all people).......... it might be a close call but I think Howard will win.

Originally posted by John bull 1
As for what Diane Kerry said well it's the truth IMO.So you think she should lie ?? Australia and Australians are in greater danger now as a result of being part of the coalition and I think the Bali bomb is a good example.

The Bali bomb was supposedly retribution for Australias key involvement in the independance of East Timor. It was also before the Invasion of Iraq.

Security just isn't getting much attention down here at the moment, my own experiences are much in the same line as sanctums, John Howard hasn't been an angel, and we didn't need to invade Iraq. But we've been extremely lucky so far with our presence in Iraq, and Latham just isn't an appealing enough alternative. I would hope that this will be a windfall for the smaller parties and independants, but that remains to be seen. They aren't making themselves all that visible strangely enough.

Originally posted by Kano
The Bali bomb was supposedly retribution for Australias key involvement in the independance of East Timor. It was also before the Invasion of Iraq.

The bombers have denied that the bomb was targetted specifically at Australians, but rather westerners in general. There has never been a link between ETimor and the bombing.