Australia’s government led opposition Labor yesterday in the final days before a weekend election, with the fate of virgin forests due to take centre stage as the campaign draws to its climax. Australia’s robust economy, one of the industrialised world’s strongest, has been the main issue during the campaign but health, education and the environment have also been concerns for voters, along with national security and the war on Iraq.

An ACNielsen poll yesterday showed the Liberal-National coalition government with a four-point lead over Labor on a two-party preferred basis, where minor party votes are given to major parties and ultimately decide an election. The survey, published in The Age newspaper, showed Prime Minister John Howard’s eight-year-old government -- seeking a fourth straight term in office -- had 52 percent support, compared with 48 percent support for Labor, led by Mark Latham.

The government retained a strong primary vote lead, or first count of votes, with 48 percent support over Labor’s 39 percent. “Labor has had the problem that they have been unable to really engage large swathes of the electorate,” said Monash University political analyst Nick Economou said. “Labor has really failed in a bid to get people to look at the government critically and that’s going to help Mr. Howard.”

<B>Defining choice </B>

The conservative government and centre-left Labor have both vowed to protect virgin or old-growth forests in the southern island state of Tasmania while at the same time promising to protect the jobs of timber workers. Both are due to announce their policies on the sensitive issue within days. However, Economou said he did not think policies on Tasmania’s old-growth forests would sway a big number of voters and he believed the government would probably be returned to power. “At the end of the day I think people are going to vote on economic issues and health and education because they have really dominated debate during the campaign,” Economou told Reuters.

Australia’s election has attracted international attention because it precedes the USpresidential vote on Nov. 2 and a ballot in Britain that is widely expected to be called in May or June. Both are set to be fought largely on the issues of security and the war on terror. Howard remains preferred prime minister with 52 percent support compared with 40 percent in favour of Latham, ACNielsen showed.

“Most elections since World War Two have been decided by tiny margins and that is why defining the choice is so very important, especially in the last week,” Howard, who on Sunday said he expected to be re-elected, told Australian radio yesterday.