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CANBERRA - Terrorism has begun moving to the centre of the political stage as Australia ramps up its border security, renews warnings of likely terror attacks in Indonesia, and considers further tightening its already-tough anti-terror laws.
Although the nation's fight against terrorism has not been drawn openly into the mounting campaign for this year's election, national security remains one of Prime Minister John Howard's key advantages.
It also poses a delicate problem for Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd, who needs to present his own strong security base without seeming to undermine Government measures - or to appear to be trapped in Howard's wake, as predecessor Kim Beazley was over the Tampa refugee crisis during the 2001 election.
Rudd continues to lead in the polls, with Howard failing to gain significant ground even with his declaration of national emergency over child sexual abuse in the Northern Territory's Aboriginal communities.
A new Morgan poll - the first to be made after Howard's dramatic takeover of Aboriginal life - found that Labor's two-party preferred vote has risen 1.5 per cent to 59 per cent, against the Government's 41 per cent.
If confirmed by other polls, national security and economic management will become even more important for Howard's bid for a fifth term in office.
Divisions between the Government and the Opposition yesterday widened as Rudd criticised security flaws at the nation's airports and again urged the withdrawal of Australian troops from Iraq.
"The best thing Mr Howard could do right now [to enhance security] would be to bring about an exit strategy for Australia's troops in Iraq, because our continued presence in Iraq is making Australia into a bigger and bigger terrorist target," he said.
Howard used a rocket attack on Australian troops in Afghanistan to reaffirm his determination to remain in Iraq as a counter to terrorism.
"Our troops in Iraq are doing very valuable but very dangerous work and we should be very conscious that neither [the Afghanistan nor Iraq] deployment is free of risk, but each deployment involves a very important struggle against terrorism."
Howard also warned of possible new measures at home.
"Terrorism is not something that's going to be disposed of in a matter of months or even a few years," he said.
"It's going to be a long struggle, it's a different struggle, it's a new struggle, it's a new and different kind of enemy and we have to use new and different techniques.
"People who imagine that we can use the techniques of earlier struggles are deluding themselves."
Counter-terrorism has been given new urgency by the arrest last week of Indian doctor Mohamed Haneef in Queensland in connection with the failed terror bombings in London and Glasgow.
While six other foreign doctors have been questioned by counter-terrorism agents and released, Haneef was last night waiting to learn whether the Australian Federal Police would seek a further extension of time to continue his interrogation.
Haneef's only contact with the outside world has been with his lawyer, Peter Russo, who was yesterday finally given access to a limited amount of material pertaining to his client's arrest.
Defending the laws allowing Haneef to be held for so long without charge, Howard said the detention measures would be reviewed - "and if the laws turn out to be inadequate then the Government will look at making them more adequate".
Haneef, who is related to two of the alleged British bombers, has not been charged and Howard said Australians should not jump to any conclusions.
But the nation's sense of unease grew yesterday as the Foreign Affairs Department reissued its terrorism alert for Indonesia.
It warned that terrorists were continuing active planning of attacks that could take place at any time and could be imminent with Bali and Jakarta among priority targets.
"There is sufficiently firm intelligence to justify [the alert] being upgraded," Howard said.
Howard had earlier announced the accelerated introduction of a sophisticated high-speed data-matching system to identify people considered to be potential security risks.
In Afghanistan, a convoy of Australian light armoured vehicles came under attack from Taleban rebels using rocket-propelled grenades but escaped without casualties.
About 970 Australian reconstruction, special forces and other troops are operating under Dutch command in the southern province of Uruzgan.
