Australia's main opposition party has surged ahead of the ruling coalition in an opinion poll released yesterday, after tens of thousands of protesters rallied against a new labor law that they say erodes job security.
Support among voters for the opposition center-left Labor Party rose four percentage points to 53 percent over two weeks, according to the respected Newspoll published in the Australian broadsheet.
Prime Minister John Howard's ruling center-right coalition slipped from 51 percent to 47 percent over the same period, the poll showed.
The latest random telephone poll of 1,152 voters nationwide, which has a 3 percentage point margin of error, was conducted at the weekend after nationwide rallies against labor law reforms were held last week.
The new measures, passed by the parliament three months ago, allow bosses to change the conditions on which staff are employed and reduce legal restrictions on bosses who fire staff.
The government has dismissed the public outcry as a fear campaign generated by the country's trade union movement.
Opposition lawmaker Wayne Swan said the poll showed Labor was right to vow to tear up the new laws if it wins government at elections next year.
"There's no doubt that this issue is seriously eroding the confidence of Australia's middle and low income families," Swan told Australian Broadcasting Corp radio.
Howard said yesterday his government would forge ahead with the reforms for the good of the economy.
He would not say whether he thought the reforms would cost his coalition government at the next elections.
"The Labor Party has never been a pushover in federal elections so that's why I've been saying for a year or more now that we must prepare for a very tough fight," Howard told Perth radio 6PR.
Howard has declined to say if he will contest the election, 11 years after he first became prime minister.
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