Election campaign kicks off in Australia, opposition ahead in polls

Initial polls have shown Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison's government could lose the federal election next month, even as they showed him consolidating his position as the country's preferred leader.

On Monday, a Newspoll survey conducted for The Australian newspaper showed Morrison gaining a point to 44 percent, while opposition leader Anthony Albanese falling 3 points to 39 percent.

This is the largest lead the prime minister has held over his rival since February.

But the poll also said Morrison's conservative Liberal-National Party coalition, with a one-seat majority in the lower house of parliament, could lose 10 seats to Albanese's centre-left Labor.

The campaign is set to focus on cost-of-living pressures, climate change and questions over the major parties' competence.

READ MORE: Morrison: Australia goes to elections in May

Labor gains

A separate survey for the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper on Monday predicted the ruling coalition could lose at least 14 seats.

This included some previously deemed safe in resource-rich Queensland and Western Australia states. A win for Labor would see it back in power for the first time since 2013.

All 151 seats in the lower house will be up for election. Morrison's Liberal-National coalition holds 76, Labor 68 and seven are held by minor parties and independents.

Morrison kicked off his election campaign from the marginal seat of Gilmore in New South Wales — a narrow Labor gain from the Liberal Party in the last election in 2019 — as he prepares to spend six weeks on the road before the vote.

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