Australia campaign in final days

Mr Howard (R) is trailing Mr Rudd in opinion polls

Campaigning in Australia for the election on 24 November has entered its final week, with PM John Howard still trailing Labor rival Kevin Rudd.

Labor has a sizeable lead in opinion polls over the centre-right coalition led by Mr Howard, who has been in office for 11 years.

Mr Howard, 68, argues that Australians would be gambling with prosperity if they elected a Labor government.

But analysts say there appears to be broad support in Australia for change.

Both candidates will spend the next five days campaigning all over the country before polling day on Saturday.

'Quiet expectation'

In recent weeks Mr Howard has promised a greater focus on jobs, childcare, education and affordable housing.

AUSTRALIAN ELECTION More than 13.5m of Australia's roughly 21m people are registered to vote Electors will choose candidates for all 150 seats in the lower House of Representatives and 40 of the 76 seats in the upper house, the Senate PM John Howard has led the conservative Liberal-National party coalition to four election wins since 1996 and is seeking a final term Kevin Rudd is taking the centre-left Labor Party to the polls for the first time as leader Election issues are the economy, environment and war in Iraq Profile: John Howard Profile: Kevin Rudd Nick Bryant's blog

On Sunday, the prime minister said he had a "quiet expectation" that he would defy the opinion polls with a win, and emphasised his economic credentials.

"As we enter the last week of this campaign, there's only one issue that really counts above all else - and that is who is better to manage this very prosperous economy that we have," he said.

Mr Rudd, meanwhile, has also pledged to reform health, education and controversial labour laws introduced by Mr Howard.

The 50-year-old former diplomat has targeted two issues that resonate with many Australians - promising to ratify the Kyoto Protocol on climate change and pull Australian combat troops out of Iraq.

Labour needs a net gain of 16 seats to form a government, and recent polls indicate this could well be within its grasp.

The BBC's Nick Bryant, in Canberra, says that while John Howard is famed for his political escapology and for making last-gasp comebacks, this time he is leaving it very late.