Opinion poll shows tight contest in Australian election race

SYDNEY: Australia’s conservative government is running neck-and-neck with the centre-left Labor opposition, according to an opinion poll published on Saturday, a day before elections were widely expected to be called for July 2.

Australian media has reported extensively that Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull would formally set in motion the election process on Sunday, starting a two-month campaign that will likely focus on Australia’s flagging economy and hotbutton issues like its tough policy on asylum-seekers.

A Seven-ReachTEL poll — the first to factor in reaction to Tuesday’s national budget — had the governing LiberalNational coalition and Labor both on 50 per cent support on a two-party preferred basis, under which votes for minor parties are redistributed to the two main blocs.

The coalition, which returned to power in 2013, has surrendered its lead to Labor. The opposition, however, still needs a swing of 4.3 per cent against the government to rule in their own right, meaning that minor parties will likely play an important role in the election.

Turnbull has consistently outpolled Labor leader Bill Shorten in terms of personal popularity, but his government has struggled to propose an alternative to Labor’s big-spending promises on health and education.

The Seven-ReachTEL poll found that only 7 per cent of the 2,450 respondents felt they would be better off under Treasurer Scott Morrison’s first budget. A third believed they would be worse off. A decade-plus mining boom in resourcerich Australia and plummeting commodity prices has left the government struggling to raise revenue.