KEY POINTS:
Australia's conservative government has turned to wild pigs and pensions to woo support, as a poll showed it slipping further behind the Labour opposition ahead of a November election.
Deputy Prime Minister Mark Vaile went pig hunting near the sugar cane farming town of Tully, in the key state of Queensland, while Prime Minister John Howard promised $4.5b for pensioners in a pitch to the critical grey vote.
"Foxes and rabbits have the biggest impact on bio-diversity but feral pigs, goats, mice, carp, dogs, cane toads, camels, cats and horses are also a costly problem," Vaile said, pledging $17m for feral pest control as he toured hidden pig traps.
Howard, meanwhile, stressed his government's economic record to try to lure jaded voters away from a widely-tipped experiment with Labour's youthful Kevin Rudd.
He announced A$4.5b in additional benefits for 2.8 million pensioners, retirees and people with disabilities to help them meet rising living costs.
"We are able to do this because we have a strong budget surplus and I believe that when you are in that position you should use it to make sure that people are given the support they deserve," Howard said.
The promises came after multi-billion dollar tax pledges unveiled by both sides and coincided with a Newspoll in the Australian newspaper that showed Labour leading Howard's conservative coalition by 58 per cent to 42 per cent.
This reversed a six-point narrowing between the two sides last week, after Howard promised A$39b in income tax cuts on the opening day of the six-week election race to try and reverse a year of poor support in opinion surveys.
The Newspoll, taken before a weekend leaders' debate that analysts said was won by Rudd, confirmed and widened a 10 to 12 point lead established by Labour in polls throughout the year.
Labour also countered the government's tax cuts with its own A$39 billion tax package.
Rudd's standing as preferred prime minister over the 11-year veteran Howard had also stretched ahead, according to the survey, gaining 2 points and rising to 50 per cent. Howard's standing had slipped 2 points to 37 per cent approval.
"You don't take all this terribly seriously. I've got to win 16 seats and what I also know is I'm up against a very clever and very cunning politician," Rudd told local television after the poll's release. "It's going to be very tough."
Rudd, 50, has given Labour its best hope of winning its first election for 14 years ahead of the November 24 vote, promising generational change, an education revolution and reform of health and labour laws.
The election will also determine whether Australia keeps combat troops in Iraq and its stance on climate change, with Rudd promising to sign the Kyoto pact cutting greenhouse emissions.
Howard, 68, is fighting to overturn a mood among voters for change despite the country enjoying 17 straight years of economic expansion that has pushed unemployment to 33-year lows.
His government has delivered successive budgets in surplus and slashed taxes by A$125b.
-Reuters
