Australian Prime Minister John Howard had a bad trip on the campaign trail on Tuesday, falling to his hands and knees in front of television cameras shortly after an opinion poll predicted his ouster.
Howard, who turns 68 on Thursday, stumbled as he swept into a radio station in the western city of Perth. In a clip shown repeatedly on television, he is seen looking startled as he falls and is then helped to his feet.
The prime minister, who faces an election by the end of the year, made light of the fall, saying it could happen to anyone.
“I’m more durable than that you know. I know some people who sort of wish that were not so — but there you go,” he said.
Once in the studio, Howard faced a grilling over the latest in a long line of polls showing his conservative Liberal-National coalition trailing badly behind the centre-left Labour Party.
The Newspoll published in the Australian newspaper on Tuesday showed Labour would win a landslide victory with 55% of the votes against 45% for the coalition, which has been in power for 11 years.
Howard, who has admitted the opinion polls show his government could be annihilated at the elections, defended embarking on the campaign trail before the election has even been called.
“I can walk and chew gum at the same time,” he said in a remark he may come to regret. “I can argue the case for my government’s re-election and at the same time deliver good policy.”
A separate Newspoll published Tuesday, however, showed most Australians believe Howard’s commitment of troops to the Iraq war has made the country less safe.
Howard gave Australia’s support for the 2003 invasion of Iraq and the nation currently has about 1Â 500 soldiers engaged in the campaign. — AFP