Australian PM Scott Morrison calls federal election for May 21

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Sunday called for a federal election for May 21, amid opinion polls showing his Liberal National party lagging behind the opposition despite efforts to impress voters.

The Morrison government last week wooed voters with a healthy economic report card, one-off payments to cope with higher costs of living and slashed petrol prices.

Morrison, who announced the election date at a press conference in Canberra, again touted his administration's economic track record and the handling of the Covid-19 pandemic but warned "we are not out of the woods yet".

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"People are tired of politics as we go into this election. But this election, this campaign, is incredibly important because there is so much at stake for Australia and our future," the 53-year-old leader said at Parliament House on Sunday.

But despite the government's economic efforts, and unlike the 2019 election where Morrison's party emerged victorious, pollsters and analysts this time are less certain about his chances as the ruling coalition is trailing the opposition Labor party 46-54 per cent in the latest Newspoll.

Speaking to media soon after Morrison's address, opposition leader Anthony Albanese chided the government for neglecting issues including industrial reforms that could lead to wage rises, aged care and climate change.

"It's not good enough for us to just stand still. In today's globalised world, if you just protect the status quo and keep things as they are, the rest of the world will just move past us," Albanese, 59, said.

Analysts have pointed out the thorny issues that had dogged Morrison's three-year term, eroding his popularity and political capital. This spans geopolitical dust-ups with China that have led to curbed exports on goods like coal and wine, a clash with France over an aborted submarine deal after it teamed up with Britain and the US in the Aukus security pact, and domestic problems in the form sex scandals, bush fires and floods faux pas and backflips.

Women, who make up about half of Australia's enrolled voters, have grown doubtful after allegations of rape in Parliament House, while some corners of Australian society - particularly Asian and Lebanese-Australians - have felt marginalised because of the use of race and heritage as an election strategy.

One in three Australians are born overseas and about half claim they have Anglo ancestries, according to the last census data.

Earlier this week, while doing his unofficial election rounds at a popular pub in Newcastle, north of Sydney, Morrison was accosted by an angry pub patron and pensioner disgruntled at the lack of disability and financial support for older Australians.

"At this stage the government looks to be in serious trouble. It is fractured and divided," said Anne Tiernan, one of Australia's leading political scientists and Adjunct Professor of Politics in the Griffith Business School.

She was referring to disagreements within the current government where various members of the Morrison government have publicly criticised the prime minister's character, lack of integrity and denounced support for his party.

"He's dogged by questions about his character and honesty - including from within his own party. Overall, he's not the electoral asset he was in 2019. Many of his own members don't want him campaigning in their seats," Tiernan said.

Morrison on Sunday admitted "his government was not perfect".

Indeed, while Morrison forged his political career as the immigration minister who "stopped the boats", a reference to tough border policies to discourage mostly Afghan and Iranian asylum seekers arriving by sea, things have changed.

The tough stance seen as key to winning elections has come under pressure, with independent lawmakers in seats previously held by Liberal Party members pushing back against the long detentions of asylum seekers.

On Thursday, the government suddenly released refugees detained for two years in a hotel in Melbourne under Australia's tough border policies.

But two things stand out for the Morrison government, that is a decent economic report card and that the Australian public has not yet been swayed by Albanese and the Labor party, analysts say.

Morrison said that voters had a choice: to choose the current government with a clear record of leading the country in its post-pandemic economic recovery or the Labor party which "would weaken the growth".

"The Labor opposition that you know, can't manage money," he said.

"It's a choice between an economic plan that will deliver the lowest unemployment rate we have seen in 50 years and a Labor opposition that has a track record in government of higher unemployment, higher interest rates and higher electricity prices."

In previous elections however, Australians voted with their "hip pocket" focusing on things like the cost of living more than "global issues". "Ordinary voters are looking at an economy that seems to be pretty bulletproof ... Morrison's got that on his side," political analyst and professor at ANU's Australian Studies Institute Mark Kenny said.

"So when we look at some of these issues that people are really revved up - will they actually determine the way people vote? Climate change is a great example of this ... people rate it as an issue in proportions of 80 plus per cent. But do they rate it as the number one issue?"

On the other hand, veteran Labor Party pollster John Utting said voters know pandemic fiscal spending to protect job losses and dying businesses were "so colossal" and "at such an enormous magnitude".

Voters would also see Morrison taking credit for saving the economy because "it's kind of what the public is expected to have done," Utting said.

Election analyst and publisher of the Australian politics website pollbludger.net William Bowe said it was possible that "those intending to vote Labor are not deeply committed".

Albanese also sought to burnish his leadership credentials, telling voters that apart from being an experienced parliamentarian, he had held roles as acting prime minister and deputy premier.

"I'm someone who I believe is very much in touch with mainstream Australia. I'm comfortable in a boardroom and I'm comfortable in a pub," he said.

"I would say that there is no one in the parliament who has closer credentials and more friends among senior members of the business community than myself on either side of politics."

Albanese added the Labor party was united whereas "character assessments" of Morrison and the chaos in his party were "out there for all to see".

On the national security front, Morrison also played up his government's robust defence spending as a deterrent against Chinese aggression. Canberra and Beijing have been at loggerheads over various issues since the start of the pandemic.

While the prime minister did not mention China in his briefing, he emphasised the importance of Australia's relationship with its allies such as the US and India.

This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (SCMP).

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