AUSTRALIA:Australian prime minister John Howard told nervous party colleagues yesterday he could still win the forthcoming election despite yet another poll pointing to a comprehensive defeat for his conservative coalition.
Mr Howard, who has been in power for 11 years, also reaffirmed that he would remain as Liberal Party leader, rejecting media speculation he would step down ahead of the election and hand power to his younger deputy, treasurer Peter Costello.
"What I would say to my colleagues is that we can win this election," Mr Howard told Australian radio yesterday, as he faced more damaging speculation over his future after hosting a weekend summit of 21 Asia-Pacific leaders in Sydney.
The government has been struggling in the polls since December last year, when the centre-left Labor Party opposition elected Kevin Rudd to lead it into national elections.
A new opinion poll, published in the Sydney Morning Herald and Age newspapers yesterday, found government support had slipped two points since mid-August to 43 per cent, compared with Labor's 57 per cent.
Mr Howard, who must set an election date by mid-November, is widely expected to call the vote within weeks.
The latest poll results prompted some commentators to say Mr Howard should resign for the good of his party, and hand over to Mr Costello to stem the government losses, but a defiant Mr Howard said he intended to contest the election as leader.
Mr Howard said his government was considered competent and the Australian economy was growing strongly.
But one outspoken government politician, Senator Barnaby Joyce, from the junior government partner, the National Party, said the government clearly needed a new approach to woo voter support.
"It's like going to a dance," Joyce told Australian Broadcasting Corporation radio yesterday.
"There's only so many times you can go up to a girl and ask her for a dance.
"If she keeps on saying no and you keep on going back, you know, it's not too long after that that she starts getting annoyed or she calls the police.
"Now, we've obviously got to try a different approach than the one we've got, or we've got to make a public statement that we believe all the current polls are rubbish."