PM's 'drunken sailor' campaign
2004-09-27 10:39
Canberra, Australia - The opposition Labour Party on Monday accused Prime Minister John Howard of spending "like a drunken sailor" to woo voters ahead of next month's election in which he will seek a fourth three-year term.
In a key campaign trail speech on Sunday, Howard unveiled A$6bn in new spending on education, health, childcare and small business.
National broadsheet The Australian calculated that the premier racked up A$94m in spending pledges for every minute he was addressing his party faithful in the eastern city of Brisbane, in a speech that lasted just over an hour.
Howard rejected Labour accusations that his big spending promises were reckless and guaranteed they would not cause interest rates to rise.
"I can say that ... because after all of them have been costed and taken into account, the surpluses of this year and the next three years will be higher than the surpluses that were projected at budget time," Howard said.
Australian National University economics Prof. Bob Gregory said the government spending plans could raise interest rates - something Howard repeatedly has warned voters a Labour government would do.
While national security and Australia's involvement in America's so-called "war on terror" have been key issues in four weeks of campaigning so far, Howard's speech and Labour's attack on his free-spending government underscore that the economy is likely to be the decisive battleground in the final days of campaigning.
The new spending will add pressure on Labour to match the generosity when it formally launches its campaign on Wednesday.
But senior Labor lawmaker Wayne Swan said his party would not attempt to outbid the government for voters' support.
"We're not going to be part of Crazy John's end-of-career clearance sale," Swan told ABC radio. "This prime minister is spending like a drunken sailor."
However, Labour leader Mark Latham on Monday unveiled his own A$1.6bn package to make childcare more affordable.
While the campaign is gathering intensity in the final two weeks before the October 9 election, the electioneering will be too late for thousands of people - many of them Aborigines - in remote communities where voting began on Monday.
The Australian Electoral Commission was using aircraft and boats to collect votes from far-flung communities in the 12 days until the election, beginning with the sprawling electorate of Lingiari where fewer than 100 000 people inhabit an area of more than 1.3 million square kilometers, which is roughly the size of South Africa.
- AP