Australian PM seeks second 'miracle' win in May 21 polls

Canberra

AUSTRALIA will hold a national election on May 21, after a 6-week campaign period which centre-right Prime Minister Scott Morrison hopes will bring him another come-from-behind victory.

Morrison's Liberal National coalition is currently trailing the opposition Labor Party in opinion polling, but he was in a similar position ahead of the 2019 election and narrowly won another term in office, saying then he "always believed in miracles".

"This election - others will seek to make it about me. It's about the people watching this right now. It's about them," Morrison said at a press conference on Sunday (Apr 10), where he announced the poll date. "Our government is not perfect, we've never claimed to be, but we are upfront. And you may see some flaws but you can also see what we have achieved for Australia in incredibly difficult times."

Speaking on Sunday afternoon, opposition Labor leader Anthony Albanese kicked off his campaign to become the next Australian prime minister, with a focus on lifting wage growth and easing cost-of-living pressures.

"I know that many Australians are doing it really tough. They know the price of everything is going up but their pay isn't," Albanese said. "Today I say to my fellow Australians, this is our time."

Morrison is the first Australian leader to face two consecutive elections in almost 15 years, after a decade of political chaos in the country where prime ministers were regularly replaced by their own party over internal disputes.

But the prime minister has had a rough start to the 2022 election campaign period, with several members of his own party in recent weeks publicly airing their criticism of Morrison, including a sitting government senator and state politician. He has also been criticised over supply shortages during a recent Omicron outbreak and mismanaging the response to flooding in the nation's north-east.

The Australian leader has attempted to frame the vote around the country's strong economic growth and national defence, highlighting unemployment rates which are at their lowest since 2008. Morrison also unveiled a series of spending measures last month to help soften the impact of rising living costs.

The opposition is focusing on domestic manufacturing and higher wages for workers. The Labor Party is also targeting Morrison personally over his handling of the Covid-19 pandemic. BLOOMBERG