Gillard gives election hint

Julia Gillard has promised to ask the Australian people for their trust, as
Governor-General Quentin Bryce cut short an overseas trip, prompting talk of an
August election being called within days.
The prime minister was coy about an election date but gave the strongest hint yet
the government was in pre-election mode.
"In the days to come I will be putting forward more detailed arguments about some of
the biggest challenges facing our nation," Ms Gillard told a think tank in Adelaide.
"I will ask for the Australian people's trust to move Australia forward."
There is a possibility Ms Gillard will ask Ms Bryce to dissolve parliament before
she heads to France on Saturday.
Government House confirmed Ms Bryce had originally intended to leave Australia on
Friday, igniting speculation the trip was postponed so the prime minister could seek
to have the writs for an election issued.
The trip, to include stops in Singapore and the UK over 11 days, has been shortened
to five days.
Ms Bryce will head to France to pay tribute to Australian soldiers killed at
Fromelles during World War I.
The governor-general had reduced the time she was away because she has
"constitutional responsibilities" that may require her to be in Australia, her
office told AAP.
Ms Gillard can go to Government House this week for an August 21 election, although
an August 28 poll is still the choice of punters.
Asked if she was likely to call the election this week, the prime minister said she
had some governing to do.
"Obviously I've said to the Australian people that there are some issues we needed
to address as a government, some things where I thought we had got off track and
that we needed to get back on track," she told reporters.
"I've been working on those."
Federal cabinet meets in Canberra on Tuesday, in what could be the last top-level
discussion before an election is called.
Senior ministers are likely to discuss political tactics as the asylum-seeker issue
continues to dog the government.
Fifty-six per cent of respondents to an Essential Research poll, published on
Monday, believed Labor is too soft on the issue.
But 42 per cent of people approved of the way Ms Gillard is addressing the issue,
compared with 33 per cent who disapproved.
Ahead of a possible election announcement, Opposition Leader Tony Abbott is
downplaying the coalition's chances as opinion polls show a consolidation in the
Labor vote.
"I've always said that we will go into this election as underdogs," he told
reporters in Canberra.
"We are up against a first-term government which is backed by ... the most ruthless
political machine in Australia's history."
Since Ms Gillard ousted Kevin Rudd almost three weeks ago, Labor's ratings have
improved, with the Nielsen and Galaxy polls showing a 52-48 two-party-preferred lead
over the coalition.
The Galaxy poll showed the Greens' vote lifting from 12 per cent to 14 per cent, as
voters dismayed at Labor's tougher stance on asylum seekers abandoned the
government.
The same poll showed 59 per cent of voters regarded Labor's East Timor solution for
a regional processing centre as poorly planned, even though 63 per cent approved of
the tougher stance.