Leaders face voters in pre-election showdown

Australia’s first woman Prime Minister faced questions on her sudden rise to power yesterday as she and her conservative challenger met voters at a town hall forum ahead of weekend polls.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard, who deposed elected leader Kevin Rudd in a Labour Party coup just eight weeks ago, agreed to the showdown with opposition chief Tony Abbott in Brisbane after lengthy squabbling over its format.

Ms Gillard and Mr Abbott, who declared himself “ready to govern”, were grilled separately by voters at the Brisbane Broncos rugby league club’s headquarters.

Both candidates faced questions on the economy, plans for a national broadband network, legalising same-sex marriage and boatpeople seeking asylum in Australia.

But Ms Gillard, who is narrowly ahead in polls, also faced scepticism from the audience in Mr Rudd’s home state of Queensland, who questioned whether they could trust her and asked her to again explain why she removed him as she did.

“These are things that weigh heavily on my mind,” the 48-year-old former lawyer told the audience, but she added that she and her Labour colleagues had overwhelmingly decided that a change in leadership was needed.

“When I became Prime Minister I said to the Australian people I would very quickly call an election so people could have their say. Everybody gets their say on Saturday.”

Ahead of the meeting, a survey of 28,000 voters compiled from automated phone calls showed Labour scraping home with a four-seat majority, just avoiding becoming the first single-term government since World War II.

The JWS Research poll, published by the Sydney Morning Herald, found Labour would have lost 15 seats and gained six if polls were held last weekend, giving it 79 of the lower house’s 150 seats. Abbott’s Coalition was put at 68 seats.

Welsh-born Ms Gillard is promising an economic boost through better education and training, along with improved healthcare helped by Labour’s planned national broadband network, which is intended to wire 93 per cent of homes.

Mr Abbott has played heavily on Labour’s perceived disunity and accuses the government of overspending during the financial crisis, when massive stimulus helped Australia avoid a recession.

Saying he was in the “race of my life” to win the election, Mr Abbott said he was ready to form a new government in Canberra.