Australian opposition leader Mark Latham launched his pitch for government yesterday, vowing to shake off the country's tag as a US "deputy sheriff" and soften its tough stance on asylum seekers.
Latham attended his first Labor Party conference as leader promising to wrest power from conservative Prime Minister John Howard, who has held office since 1996 and is expected to call an election later this year.
Entering the conference to the strains of pop group INXS's A New Sensation, Latham outlined his plans to usher in a republic and said he wanted to end the "negative, whinging carping" practised by Howard.
"You ask me the big difference in Australian politics? The Howard government campaigns on fear, we campaign on opportunity," he said.
Latham, keen to cast off a foul-mouthed image earned before his elevation to the Labor leadership in December last year, harked back to his working-class roots and said he wanted to improve access to health and education.
The leader of the center-left party was most specific on foreign policy, where he said Australia needed to display its independence and engage comprehensively with Asia.
Latham, who once described US President George W. Bush as "the least competent and most dangerous president in living memory," addressed perceptions that Australia acts as Washington's deputy in the Asia-Pacific region.
"We're nobody's deputy," he said. "I believe in the American alliance, but with Australia as an equal partner, not a deputy."
Latham, 42, rejected Howard's plans to involve Australia in the US "Son of Star Wars" missile defense shield and attacked the decision to commit troops to the US-led Iraq invasion.
"A Labor government would never send young Australians to war in search of weapons that don't exist, for a purpose that's not true," he said.
On asylum seekers, Latham attempted to tread a fine line between the tough stance that proved popular for Howard in the 2001 election and demands from rights groups and sections of his own party for a softer policy.
In a bid to head off a divisive debate at the conference, Latham pledged to end the so-called Pacific Solution -- where asylum seekers are detained in remote offshore camps until their claims are processed -- and to release child detainees into the community.
"We can be stronger but also fairer and more compassionate than the Howard government," he said of the policy, under which asylum seekers will still face mandatory detention.
The three-day conference is Labor's opportunity to showcase its new leader, who succeeded the lackluster Simon Crean with the party trailing badly in opinion polls.
But recent polls show Labor is back in the race, neck and neck with the conservative government in popularity and Latham enjoying a satisfaction rating of 49 percent, a level never reached by his predecessor.
Howard questioned Latham's commitment to the Australia-US relationship and said his opponent's policies on asylum seekers showed he was weak on border control.
He said he was unfazed by Latham's speech and the ultimate test would come on election night.
"I wouldn't have thought that anybody has ever had me rattled in politics. I've seen them all over a very long period of time," he said.
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