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Australian opposition wins TV debate
Reuters - Monday, July 26
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By James Grubel
CANBERRA - Australia's conservative opposition leader Tony Abbott was declared narrow winner of a televised election debate on Sunday as he attempts to rejuvenate his bid for office in the second week of an election campaign.
Trailing in the polls after the first week of a five-week campaign, Abbott faced up to Prime Minister Julia Gillard in a calm and measured nationally-televised debate which featured no new policies and no decisive moments.
Selected television audiences of undecided voters gave victory to Gillard, but most political analysts gave the debate to Abbott, saying he performed better than expected and took the opportunity to show he was Gillard's equal.
"Tony Abbott probably won it. Tony Abbott had the better of this debate," said veteran Nine Network political editor Laurie Oakes.
Opinion polls show Gillard is on track to win the August 21 election, where she is seeking voter endorsement after she ousted former prime minister Kevin Rudd in a dramatic party room challenge in late June.
A Nielsen poll on Saturday found Gillard had consolidated her lead in the first week of the campaign, while the Reuters Poll Trend on Thursday found Gillard on track to win a larger majority on August 21.
Analyst Nick Economou scored the debate a one-all draw, but said audience meters set up by commercial television networks, known as the worm, had found women clearly favoured Gillard to the super-fit moral conservative Abbott.
"The worm confirms that Tony Abbott has a problem with women and there appears to be a gender gap with how people might vote," Economou, from Melbourne's Monash university told Reuters.
IMMIGRATION CUTS
Earlier, both sides of politics promised to cut immigration numbers in a move that has angered Australian business.
Abbott has promised to curb the immigration intake from 300,000 people last year to around 170,000 a year, and to ensure population growth slows to around 1.4 percent from more than 2.0 percent.
"What we would do is manage the programme to bring it down to what we think are sustainable long-term numbers," Abbott told reporters on Sunday.
But Gillard hit back and said the immigration intake was already falling to around 230,000 people this year and would fall further to around 145,000 people by 2012.
"I certainly have said we need a sustainable Australia, not a big Australia," Gillard said.
"We've brought immigration numbers down as the economy obviously was dealing with the impact of the global financial crisis, down to 230,000.
Australia is going through an immigration boom as it seeks skilled workers and in a tight labour market, and former prime minister Kevin Rudd had championed population growth from about 22 million to 36 million by 2050.
But the move had upset many people in crowded outer suburbs around the biggest cities of Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, where government services are struggling to keep up with growth and where housing is becoming less affordable.
When she replaced Rudd as prime minister, Gillard was quick to move away from Rudd's big Australia policy and has instead promised a more sustainable population, although she has refused to set any targets.
Around one in four Australians were born overseas, including both Gillard and Abbott, who were born in Britain but migrated to Australia as children.
The Business Council of Australia, which represents the country's biggest industries, said the tough talk on cutting immigration was not in the national interest.
"Growth will offset the effects of Australia's ageing population and ensure that governments have the revenue they need to pay for health care, education, infrastructure and environmental initiatives," council chief executive Katie Lahey said in a statement.
Reuters election cover at www.reuters.com/places/australia)
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