Aust. Govt popularity up:

Press, 5 August 1985, Page 20

Aust. Govt popularity up:

By

CHRIS PETERS,

NZPA staff correspondent Sydney

Australia’s Labour Government has begun to claw its way back in the public opinion ratings just in time for an important by-election in Victoria in a fortnight. According to the latest Morgan Gallup Poll, backing for Labour has edged up three points to 44 per cent, although it is still four points behind the conservative Liberal-National Party coalition. The result is an important

turnround after a series of poor results that began in late April when the bottom dropped out of Labour’s public support, and it slumped to six points behind the Conservatives.

The only other time Labour had dropped in public estimation in two years of power was in one polling in February at the time of the MX missile debacle.

This run of bad ratings lasted two months, adding to the gloom that according to the commentators has started to envelop a Gov-

ernment they say lias lx>;iin to lose its way. One of the main reasons - for the slump was the slow ' bleed of uncertainty in the j drawn-out leadup to the tax > summit, a concern •' measured by Labour's < dropping to a rating of just ? 41 per cent. '

The tide has now turned, although the personal approval rating of the Prime Minister, Mr Hawke, has slipped another point along with the national preference for him as the nation's leader. r