Australian PM launches pitch for his second 'miracle' win

BRISBANE • Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has made an impassioned pitch for his centre-right government to be re-elected for a fourth term less than one week from a national election, with polls pointing to an opposition victory.

The Liberal National Coalition government held its official campaign launch yesterday in Brisbane, Queensland, a state that is crucial for Mr Morrison's party if it is to have any possibility of victory in the May 21 election.

Speaking in front of a crowd of loyal supporters, Mr Morrison said "Australia has prevailed" in the face of a pandemic, a global economic downturn and climate change-fuelled natural disasters.

"We stand on the edge of a new era of opportunity, better days are now ahead, but we cannot take it for granted," he said.

Mr Morrison's government will seek re-election on the back of a strong economy and record-low unemployment, and further appealed to Australians with proposals yesterday to unlock pension rules for real estate investing.

The opposition Labor Party has criticised the "cost-of-living crisis" in Australia, with rising inflation and low wages.

Mr Morrison's coalition has held on to power with a slender one-seat majority in Australia's 151-seat Parliament in the past three years, but latest opinion polls show a swing in public sentiment, indicating an emphatic victory for the opposition in Saturday's election.

A survey last Friday showed the Labor Party leading the ruling Coalition by 54 per cent to 46 per cent, a result that would give Mr Anthony Albanese's opposition about 85 parliamentary seats, The Australian newspaper said.

Still, Mr Morrison has defied public opinion before. In 2019, he was widely expected to lose the election before pulling off a surprise win he described as a "miracle".

The Prime Minister said yesterday that if he is re-elected, first-time home buyers would be allowed to use as much as 40 per cent of their superannuation accounts for property purchases, up to a maximum of A$50,000 (S$48,400), starting next year.

He had previously said that the government would allow older Australians to downsize their homes while putting new funds into their retirement savings. Mr Morrison said the move would boost superannuations while freeing up property stock for first-home buyers.

Both proposals are aimed at helping struggling homeowner hopefuls in one of the most expensive housing markets in the world even as real estate prices in the region have shown repeated signs of softening.

But the opposition criticised the first home buyer proposal, with Labor campaign spokesman Jason Clare saying it would lead to even higher house prices. Labor said that if it won the polls, it would spend A$1 billion on advanced manufacturing to boost jobs and diversify the country's industrial base.

BLOOMBERG