(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - The governing Australian Labor Party (ALP) is enjoying a surge in popularity, according to a poll by Newspoll published in The Australian. 51 per cent of respondents would vote for the ALP in the next election to the House of Representatives, up five points since mid-February.

The Coalition of Liberals and Nationals is second with 31 per cent—down five points in two weeks—followed by the Australian Greens with 10 per cent. Australia’s preferential voting system—where electors indicate an order of predilection for each contender, and the ballots from smaller parties are re-distributed—gives the ALP a 26-point lead over the Coalition.

Australia held a federal election in November 2007. Final results gave the ALP 85 seats in the 150-member House of Representatives. ALP leader Kevin Rudd was officially sworn in as prime minister in December, bringing an end to the 11-year tenure of Liberal leader John Howard as head of Australia’s government.

Howard failed to retain his seat in the Bennelong constituency and stepped down as Liberal leader. Brendan Nelson—a former defence minister—defeated former environment minister Malcolm Turnbull in an internal leadership ballot by just three votes.

When it came to power, Rudd’s government introduced Friday sittings in Parliament. The opposition complained about the measure because it did not include a Question Period, and because the prime minister and frontbenchers from both sides were not required to attend.

On the morning of Mar. 7, Rudd’s administration dropped the Friday sittings, accusing the opposition of misbehaving during the only session, held on Feb. 29. On that occasion, Rudd was absent because he was visiting an aboriginal community, and opposition lawmakers brought a cardboard cut-out of him into the parliamentary chamber in protest.

Joe Hockey, manager of opposition business in the house, decried the government’s decision to scrap the Friday sessions, saying, "We make no apologies whatsoever for demanding proper accountability from this government and now we’ve seen 14 days of Parliament abolished with the flick of a pen by the Rudd government."

Polling Data

If a federal election to the House of Representatives were held today, which one of the following would you vote for? If "Uncommitted", to which one of these do you have a leaning?

Source: Newspoll / The Australian
Methodology: Telephone interviews with 1,120 Australian voters, conducted from Feb. 29 to Mar. 2, 2008. Margin of error is 3 per cent.

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