Australians to go to polls on Oct 9

Howard ended months of phony election campaigning by announcing the date when his Liberal/National coalition government would seek a fourth consecutive term in office.

"This election will be about trust," Howard told reporters at Xarliament House in the nation's capital, Canberra.

"Who do you trust to keep the economy strong and protect family living standards? Who do you trust to lead the fight, on Australia's behalf, against international terrorism?" he said.

Howard's eight-year-old old government has trailed Labor and its new-generation leader, Mark Latham, in recent opinion polls. Howard was also behind in opinion polls before he was re-elected in November 2001.

"Australia needs a change of government. Australia needs to move to a new generation of national leadership," Latham told reporters in Sydney.

Australian voters will now have six weeks of campaigning to decide whether to hand 65-year-old Howard another term or vote him out in favor of Labor and Latham, 22 years his junior.

"They are going to ask themselves which of these two blokes is more likely to keep my mortgage affordable ... that's far more important than the age difference between Mr Latham and myself," Howard said.

Opinion polls have shown the government running neck-and-neck with Labor on primary votes.

But Labor leads substantially on a two-party preferred basis, where minority party votes are distributed to major parties and ultimately decide elections.

"I think this is shaping up to be an election when the campaign itself may very well determine the outcome," the managing director of Newspoll, Sol Lebovic, told Australian television.

Howard is banking on his government's impressive economic record and strong stand on national security, which included sending troops to Iraq and Afghanistan in enthusiastic support of the United States.