A dramatic increase in the number of asylum seekers coming to Australia by boat in recent months is proof that the government’s tough new measures to fight the problem are not working, the opposition Labour Party said today.

Less than two weeks before the Australian general election, opinion polls suggest the result is now too close to call, although most still show Prime Minister John Howard’s Government holds a winning lead.

Forty-four survivors were recovering in an Indonesian refugee camp today after their boat sank off Java island, drowning several hundred people.

Australia will begin deploying military forces to the Gulf over the next two weeks to join the US-led coalition against terrorism, Prime Minister John Howard said today.

Australia's Labour Party, which is expected to win federal elections at the end of this year, has backed proposals to legally distribute heroin to medically supervised addicts.