The opposition Australian Labor Party yesterday accused Prime Minister John Howard of spending "like a drunken sailor" to woo voters ahead of next month's election in which he will seek a fourth three-year term.
In a key campaign trail speech on Sunday, Howard unveiled A$6 billion (US$4.3 billion) in new spending on education, health, child care and small business.
National broadsheet The Australian calculated thatHoward racked up A$94 million in spending pledges for every minute he was addressing his party faithful in Brisbane in a speech that lasted just over an hour.
Howard rejected Labor accusations that his big spending promises were reckless and guaranteed they would not cause interest rates to rise.
"I can say that ... because after all of them have been costed and taken into account, the surpluses of this year and the next three years will be higher than the surpluses that were projected at budget time," Howard told reporters.
Australian National University economics professor Bob Gregory said the government spending plans could raise interest rates -- something Howard repeatedly has warned voters a Labor government would do.
"The chances of the economy getting stronger and stronger and then requiring some sort of adjustment in interest rates, for example, seems to be increasing," Gregory told Australian Broadcasting Corp (ABC) radio. "All the spending increases the likelihood of an interest rate increase, I think, and that's a little bit ironic."
While national security and Australia's involvement in the war on terror have been key issues in four weeks of campaigning so far, How-ard's speech and Labor's attack on his free-spending government underscore that the economy is likely to be the decisive battleground in the final days of campaigning.
The new spending will add pressure on Labor to match the generosity when it formally launches its campaign tomorrow.
But senior Labor lawmaker Wayne Swan said his party would not attempt to outbid the government for voters' support.
"We're not going to be part of Crazy John's end-of-career clearance sale," Swan told ABC radio. "This prime minister is spending like a drunken sailor."
However, Labor leader Mark Latham yesterday unveiled his own A$1.6 billion package to make child care more affordable.
While the campaign is gathering intensity in the final two weeks before the Oct. 9 election, the electioneering will be too late for thousands of people in remote communities where voting began yesterday.
The Australian Electoral Commission was using aircraft and boats to collect votes from far flung communities in the 12 days until the election, beginning with the electorate of Lingiari where fewer than 100,000 people inhabit an area roughly the size of South Africa.
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