Canberra: Australia`s government on Monday again raised the possibility of an early election as a new poll found Prime Minister Kevin Rudd would win a second term with an increased majority.
Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard said the centre-left government may force an extra sitting of the upper house Senate in December to vote on a stalled health insurance legislation, which could lead to an election early next year.
Rudd is struggling to have key pieces of legislation, including a plan to curb green house gas emissions, passed through a hostile Senate controlled by the conservative opposition.
If legislation is rejected twice, the government can use it as a trigger for an early election. Both the health plan and the carbon trade scheme have been defeated in the Senate.
"As the government, we are entitled to take any reasonable steps to get the legislation dealt with," Gillard told reporters on Monday, reinforcing the early election threat.
Her comment came as a Nielsen poll in the Sydney Morning Herald and Age newspapers found Rudd`s government continues to hold a commanding 10-point lead over the opposition and would easily win a fresh election with an increased majority.
Rudd has said he would prefer to serve a full three-year term, which would normally see elections in late 2010, although he has left open the option of an early poll if the Senate frustrates his reform agenda.
Government backbencher Craig Thomson said the government needed to threaten an early election to ensure passage of government laws in the Senate. The government is seven votes short of a majority in the Senate.
"It is only when we have made these threats that we`ve been able to get legislation through," Thomson told reporters.
But opposition lawmakers and a key independent Senator Nick Xenophon played down the talk of an early election, particularly on laws which would increase the cost of health insurance for high income earners.
"The government would be brave and courageous if it wants to go to an early election based on a broken promise," Xenophon told reporters. "Its more like the boy that cried wolf."
The latest election threat was sparked by the Senate rejecting health insurance legislation last week.
Approval ratings
The Nielsen poll found support for Rudd`s government at 55 percent on a two party basis, up two points on its November 2007 election win, compared to 45 percent for the opposition parties.
Rudd`s rating as preferred prime minister stood at 69 percent, compared to 23 percent for opposition leader Malcolm Turnbull.
Rudd has spent AUD 52 billion (USD 44 billion) in direct economic stimulus to guard the economy against recession and the global downturn, and Turnbull has attacked the spending as excessive and leaving taxpayers with record government debt.
The Nielsen poll said 59 percent of those surveyed said government moves to address the economic slump were "about right" with only 20 percent saying the spending should be decreased.
Opposition backbencher Andrew Southcott said the speculation of an early election was designed to distract voters from the government`s other problems.
"All the talk about a double dissolution just emphasizes that this is a government that has a political strategy, but has no strategy to manage the economy and jobs," he said.
Bureau Report
