SYDNEY The new leaders of Australia's influential Democrats said on Saturday they must work to keep the balance of power in Australian politics so that it does not shift to parties such as the far right One Nation.

Natasha Stott Despoja and Aden Ridgeway said their campaigning for an expected year-end national election would start immediately and would be aimed at keeping the Democrats as the third force in Australian politics.

The left-leaning party holds the balance of power in Australia's Upper House Senate. Stott Despoja, 31, took over from former leader Meg Lees in a party room vote late on Friday sparked by fears the Democrats could be sidelined in the polls.

Ridgeway, Stott Despoja's deputy, is the first Aboriginal to hold a leadership position in Australian politics. He said the Democrats could work with either the Conservative coalition government or the Labor opposition.

But he said the Democrats must shore up their own credibility as a third force to guarantee disenchanted voters do not go in search of more drastic answers from parties like Pauline Hanson's One Nation.

"The point that I would make is that the choice for voters to take into consideration is that if we aren't returned, the balance of power could quite easily fall into the hands of One Nation and particularly Pauline Hanson in Queensland," Ridgeway told reporters.

"And that would be a tragedy for politics in this country."

Hanson's xenophobic One Nation burst on to the political scene five years ago with its grab bag of populist policies opposing welfare for Aborigines and immigration, outraging Australia's Asian neighbors.

Its popularity has since waned amid party infighting but it remains a fringe party which still carries some political clout, particularly in Hanson's home State of Queensland.

Prime Minister John Howard has watched support for his government plunge in recent months. He has regained some ground lost after a string of reversals which led to policy backflips but he is still battling a downturn in economic growth.

Labor needs a swing of less than one percent to win power and has led clearly in most recent opinion polls.

Anger had built against Lees among some of the Democrats' estimated 3,000 members after she made a crucial deal with Howard two years ago to seal the introduction of a 10 percent sales tax.

Stott Despoja voted against supporting Howard's sales tax and said she remained committed to having it removed.

"I do assure the government that I will be a tough negotiator and I will certainly hold out to achieve Democrats policies and principles," the former student activist told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio.

Howard has made his preference for Lees plain and analysts expect Stott Despoja to take a tougher stand on economic issues.

(Reuter)