KEY POINTS:
Climate and the environment are moving rapidly to the centre of Australia's political stage as a general election looms in a country gripped by drought and tough water restrictions in many areas.
And Prime Minister John Howard - a late convert to climate change and sweeping water reforms - is cutting back the huge lead the previously much greener Labor Party has had for most of the year under new leader Kevin Rudd.
The climate change debate is also pushing nuclear energy into the election mix. Labour has ended its opposition to more uranium mines, and the Government is clearing a legislative path for the creation of a nuclear power industry in Australia.
Mr Howard is also using popular support for his economic management as a weapon in the deepening environmental debate, focusing on the economic sense of his proposed climate change measures and hammering Labor policies, which he says will damage the nation's prosperity.
Australia's water crisis will ensure the environment remains high in voters' minds.
The Bureau of Meteorology's National Climate Centre's drought statement yesterday said average to above-average rainfall over much of the eastern states would not end one of the worst dry spells.
But in good news for the ailing Murray-Darling river system that supports most of Australia's agriculture and keeps the eastern states alive, Mr Howard appears near to a compromise that would finally include Victoria in a A$10 billion plan for federal control of the system.
Victoria was the only state not to accept the plan to restore the stricken rivers, but after a meeting with Mr Howard in Sydney yesterday, State Premier Steve Bracks said agreement seemed near.
The combination of new environmental measures and renewed emphasis on 10 years of economic growth under his Government is beginning to pay dividends for Mr Howard.
A leaked Labor poll reported that most voters now want Treasurer Peter Costello as Prime Minister - considered an almost inevitable succession if the Coalition wins a fifth term - a Galaxy poll yesterday said Mr Howard was rapidly closing Labor's election-winning lead.
"We still have a long way to go," Mr Howard told Sydney Radio 2UE. "We are still clearly behind."
Under fire for refusing to ratify the Kyoto Protocol on greenhouse gas emissions or set firm reduction targets, Mr Howard at the weekend promised a new carbon trading system by 2012 - although he said it would result in higher energy costs.
He also promised to set emission targets after the election, and savaged calls by Labour environment spokesman Peter Garrett for a 20 per cent reduction in Australian greenhouse gas emissions by 2020.
"To meet that target, every coal and gas-fired power station would have to be replaced by a nuclear plant, and every car, truck and motorbike would have to be removed from the roads, driving the economy into recession," Mr Howard said.
Mr Garrett denied the claim and accused Mr Howard of scaremongering.
Buoyed by growing support in the polls, Mr Howard is also is pushing for an Australian nuclear industry.
"We think there is a place for nuclear, and we think you can't have a sensible debate about this whole issue unless you bring nuclear into the equation," he said.
