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Australian opposition holds slim lead over government ahead of May 18 election - poll

 

FILE PHOTO: Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Opposition Leader Bill Shorten shake hands before the first leaders forum at the Seven West Media Studios in Perth, Australia, April 29, 2019. AAP Image/ The West Australian POOL, Nic Ellis/via REUTERS

 

MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Australia's opposition Labor Party retained a narrow lead over the conservative coalition government, a closely watched poll showed on Monday, while the Labor's leader popularity hit a four-year high days ahead of a general election.

 

The Newspoll showed Labor ahead of the Liberal-National coalition, 51 percent to 49 percent, unchanged from polls over the past two weeks on a two-party preferred basis, where votes are distributed until a winner is declared.

 

Based on the poll, Labor would end up with 77 seats in Australia's lower house, above the 76 needed to form government, against 68 for the coalition and 6 for other parties. Currently, Labor holds 69, the coalition 73 and other parties 8.

 

Prime Minister Scott Morrison officially launched the party's campaign on Sunday, plugging his party's economic credentials, and calling Labor's plans to cut tax benefits and boost outlays for health and education "reckless spending".

 

However, Labor has promised bigger budget surpluses than the government, with plans to cut generous tax concessions aimed at the country's wealthiest.

 

The Newspoll showed voters' net approval of Labor leader Bill Shorten climbed eight points to his highest since March 2015, although his rating still trails Morrison's, by 10 points.

 

Shorten found popular support last week from voters who objected to a conservative tabloid's report about the life of the opposition leader's late mother.

 

The report described Shorten's account of his mother's career struggles as inaccurate, which some, including the prime minister, saw as an unfair attack.

 

Morrison, who turned 51 on Monday, had an egg thrown at him on the campaign trail last week by a young woman apparently protesting Australia's treatment of asylum seekers. The egg grazed his head without cracking. Morrison called the act "thuggery".

 

The election contest is expected to come down to a number of tightly fought seats in Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria, many of which feature independent candidates pushing for strong action on climate change.

 

The poll surveyed 1,644 voters across Australia on May 9-12. The maximum sampling error was plus or minus 2.4 percentage points.

 

(Reporting by Sonali Paul; Editing by Sam Holmes)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-05-13

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[TopDeadSenter]

Australia is about 30 years behind the rest of the developed world. Mullets have only just gone out of fashion. Now they have 2 1/2 decades of nutty left wing politics to look forward to. This consists primarily of apologizing for existing, vilifying their citizens and importing as many unskilled 3rd world migrants as possible. Then after a couple of decades of silliness, reality kicks in and they finally swing back to middle of the road sensibilities - where the UK and USA are now at. It is not a fun ride I'm afraid, and you will be left with terrible problems.

 Good luck Ozzies.

[RJRS1301]

10 minutes ago, TopDeadSenter said:

Australia is about 30 years behind the rest of the developed world. Mullets have only just gone out of fashion. Now they have 2 1/2 decades of nutty left wing politics to look forward to. This consists primarily of apologizing for existing, vilifying their citizens and importing as many unskilled 3rd world migrants as possible. Then after a couple of decades of silliness, reality kicks in and they finally swing back to middle of the road sensibilities - where the UK and USA are now at. It is not a fun ride I'm afraid, and you will be left with terrible problems.

 Good luck Ozzies.

Middle of the road??> Hate to see your idea of "right wing" have you seen the rise of the fundamentalist "right" ??

 

ScoMo has ministers running for cover( and collecting parliamentary pensions) fearing loss of seats, Dutton is hardly "middle" of the road along with too many others

 

 

[PatOngo]

2 hours ago, TopDeadSenter said:

Australia is about 30 years behind the rest of the developed world. Mullets have only just gone out of fashion. Now they have 2 1/2 decades of nutty left wing politics to look forward to. This consists primarily of apologizing for existing, vilifying their citizens and importing as many unskilled 3rd world migrants as possible. Then after a couple of decades of silliness, reality kicks in and they finally swing back to middle of the road sensibilities - where the UK and USA are now at. It is not a fun ride I'm afraid, and you will be left with terrible problems.

 Good luck Ozzies.

Yes, it's about time they put the military in control to catch up those 30 years. The military could elect the senate and formulate education policy. In no time they will be as advanced as Thailand! The world could gain from introducing the Thai model for elections! ????

[Chrisdoc]

Australia is about 30 years behind the rest of the developed world. Mullets have only just gone out of fashion. Now they have 2 1/2 decades of nutty left wing politics to look forward to. This consists primarily of apologizing for existing, vilifying their citizens and importing as many unskilled 3rd world migrants as possible. Then after a couple of decades of silliness, reality kicks in and they finally swing back to middle of the road sensibilities - where the UK and USA are now at. It is not a fun ride I'm afraid, and you will be left with terrible problems.
 Good luck Ozzies.

You've obviously been to Queensland.

Sent from my Nokia 2 using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[mfd101]

People need to keep things in perspective. The WHOLE of Australian politics - left, centre & right - would, in Usofa, fit comfortably in the middle and leftwing of the Democratic Party, along with the Bernie Sandersites.

 

I remember visiting Usofa for only the second time in 2004 and my Aussie friends on postings in DC said to me (considered a 'rightwinger' in Oz): "You're about to discover just how leftwing you really are."