Gillard leads polls as 'filthy' campaign starts

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SYDNEY, July 18 (AFP): Australia's Prime Minister Julia Gillard got off to a flying start in opinion polls Sunday as taunts over her controversial rise to power and a punch-up marked the start of a "filthy" election season.
Gillard, who set August 21 polls just three weeks after deposing Kevin Rudd, kicked off her campaign in the key battleground state of Queensland, pledging to safeguard Australia's treasured quality of life.
"One of the things Australians often say when we've spent a few days in a crowded, congested city in Europe or the United States: 'it's a nice place to visit, but you wouldn't want to live there'," she said in a speech in Brisbane.
"Friends, I will not allow Australia to ever become a country of which it is said: 'it's a nice place to visit, but you wouldn't want to live there'."
Gillard cuddled a baby during a walkabout in Queensland while opposition leader Tony Abbott sat down for a cup of tea with voters in western Sydney, in between a frenetic round of media engagements.
A Galaxy opinion poll taken late Friday gave Labor a 52-48 percent lead over the Liberal/National Coalition with Gillard, Australia's first woman prime minister, enjoying a 58-32 percent advantage over Abbott.