Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Australia's Rudd gets double dose of good news

Former leader Kevin Rudd basked Tuesday in the second poll in as many days showing more people preferred him to head the ruling Labor party than Prime Minister Julia Gillard.

Rudd, who was dumped by Gillard in a brutal and sudden Labor Party coup last June, has insisted he is not gunning for another shot at the leadership, but the poll results suggest he is the politician most people want in the job.

In a three-way Newspoll of 1,511 voters for The Australian newspaper Tuesday asking who was best to lead Labor, Rudd came top with 36 percent followed by Gillard on 29 percent.

Just one in 10 voters backed Treasurer Wayne Swan while one in four refused to nominate a preference.

It followed a Nielsen/Herald survey Monday that showed Rudd, now foreign minister, led former deputy Gillard 55 percent to 38 percent in a head-to-head match-up for preferred prime minister.

The polls are the latest to serve as a warning to Gillard that the electorate is uncertain about its decision to press ahead with a tax on carbon emissions, a policy the opposition has said it will reverse if elected.

Despite Gillard floundering, influential Australian Workers Union national secretary Paul Howes said he continued to back her despite threatening last week to withdraw support if she could not guarantee jobs under the carbon tax.

"Julia Gillard is the best leader the Labor Party's had in a very, very long period of time," Howes, a central figure in the Labor right faction that anointed Gillard last year, told reporters.

"I'm confident she will lead Labor to an election victory at the next election. But that doesn't mean I have to support the government on everything they do."

Gillard leaves Wednesday for a trip to Japan, South Korea and China before heading to London for the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton.

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Chinese become top Australian visitors

China became Australia's top inbound tourism market for the first time in February, data showed Tuesday, with Chinese New Year celebrations and international students driving a surge in arrivals.

Some 77,000 Chinese touched down in Australia in February, the statistics bureau said, beating New Zealand, Britain and the United States for the first time with a 30 percent jump compared with a year earlier.

The Tourism and Transport Forum (TTF) said there had been almost 30,000 extra Chinese visitors this January and February due to growing international student numbers and Chinese New Year festivities.

TTF chief John Lee said China had "incredible potential" for Australia, with a rising and increasingly wealthy middle class.

"To meet the needs of growing numbers of Chinese visitors, we must ensure that tourism operators are prepared, with cultural awareness, language skills, cuisine and activities tailored to their needs," said Lee.

Singapore and Malaysia also rallied strongly -- both up more than 10 percent -- while Japan, traditionally one of Australia's best markets, slipped to fifth place with a 12.5 percent drop to 33,500 visitors.

Total arrivals fell 0.4 percent to 498,400 from the previous month, but were 3.6 percent higher than a year earlier.

The number of Australians jetting overseas boomed 8.8 percent from a year earlier to 612,300, growing 0.4 percent from January, as the local currency rocketed to record highs above parity with the greenback.