WITH AUSTRALIA’S federal election just four days away, the ruling Labor Party officially launched its re-election campaign yesterday with an impassioned speech from prime minister Julia Gillard.
Echoing US president Barack Obama’s election rallying cry of “Yes, we can”, Ms Gillard told the party faithful in Brisbane yesterday “Yes, we will”.
“I am asking you, when you vote on Saturday, 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. Yes we will keep our economy growing stronger day by day’,” she said in a 40-minute speech.
Ms Gillard spoke without an autocue, using only dot point notes written on a piece of paper.
Over the weekend, all bar one of Australia’s Sunday newspapers endorsed Labor ahead of the rival Liberal-National coalition. Labor has also pulled ahead of the coalition on most of the recent published polls, having trailed in the first weeks of the campaign.
The last two opinion polls have Labor ahead 52-48 and 53-47 after preferences, though another recent poll said Labor would get more votes but still lose because of swings against it in marginal seats.
At yesterday’s launch, Ms Gillard said Liberal Party leader Tony Abbott’s declaration that he would personally order the navy to turn away asylum-seeker boats from Australian waters was “nonsense”.
“What Mr Abbott wants that [navy] commander to do is take their eyes off the safety of that crew, take their eyes off the ocean . . . go inside the cabin and give him a call. Friends, this is a nonsense,” she said.
Ms Gillard spoke of Labor’s economic credentials over the past three years, particularly in being the only developed country not to go into recession during the global financial crisis. She said Australia had created 500,000 jobs since 2007, compared to the loss of 16 million jobs around the world in that time.
Responding to the prime minister’s speech, Mr Abbot last night said: “There was absolutely no economic plan in there and we saw earlier today evidence that Labor has no real economic plan, no real economic credibility.”
Ms Gillard referred to Mr Abbott’s “pessimistic” campaign in her speech. “I do not believe the nation should choose Mr Abbott’s negativity. We’re better than that,” she said.
Greens leader Bob Brown said Labor had ignored what he said were key issues, such as same-sex marriage and climate change.
“Julia Gillard’s Labor has fallen flat on climate change – it’s very disappointing for Australia,” he said. “It’s a deliberate mistake because they know the public is wanting action on climate change but the big parties are too much in the thrall of the . . . coal barons. [There was] no mention of how this nation needs a carbon price.”
Voting is compulsory in Australia and those who move abroad remain on the register for three years. Several hundred Australians are expected to vote at Australia’s Dublin embassy.
