Fed: Coalition faces tough fight ahead of next election

AAP General News (Australia)
04-04-2004
Fed: Coalition faces tough fight ahead of next election
&CANBERRA, April 4 AAP - The coalition is trailing Labor and faces a tough fight in the
lead up to the federal election, Prime Minister John Howard said today.

Mr Howard was speaking in an interview with ABC TV recorded before today's reports
of the possibility a federal poll might be held as early as August 7.

The Sunday Telegraph reported Mr Howard might go to the polls earlier than expected
in the wake of Labor's recent stumble on Iraq, which gave the government hope that Opposition
Leader Mark Latham's honeymoon might be over.

Mr Howard told the ABC the coalition would face a difficult job winning a fourth term.

"But there is a long time to go before the election is held and you and I both know
the vicissitudes of national politics, how things can change," he said.

"We've got two fundamental things going for us. The first is that we are a united,
strong and stable government and, the other is, on the big things that matter, national
security and the economy, we're regarded by the public as being a superior performer.

"They are things that are going in our favour."

But Mr Howard noted that the coalition had been behind in the polls before and still
come out ahead by the time of the election.

"I think that it's going to be very tough. We're behind at the moment, there's no doubt
about that but we've been behind before and won comfortably," he said.

AAP so/cat

KEYWORD: ELECTION HOWARD

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