Aus opposition party maintains polling lead

Canberra, May 14 Australia's opposition Labor Party still maintains the lead as the campaign for the May 21 general elected has entered its final week.

According to the latest edition of Newspoll, the Labor Party holds a comfortable 54-46 lead over the Coalition on a two-party preferred basis, reports Xinhua news agency.

It marks the 20th consecutive Newspoll where the Coalition has trailed the Labor since November 2020.

Significantly, the Coalition has not been able to make any inroads since Prime Minister Scott Morrison called the election on April 10.

Newspoll found that 43 per cent of voters identified Morrison as their preferred Prime Minister and 42 per cent as Labor leader Anthony Albanese.

It represents a major swing in Albanese's favour from a 46-37 lead for Morrison at the end of April.

In a major shift of tone, Morrison promised to change his leadership style if re-elected.

Admitting he can be "a bit of a bulldozer", Morrison promised to empathize more with Austral if given another term as the Prime Minister .

"I will seek to explain motives and my concerns and empathize a lot more. But I tell you what, at the end of the day, what matters most is I get the job done," he told reporters on Saturday.

In response, Albanese, who on Saturday announced a Labor government would boost health spending by A$970 million ($673 million), promised to unite the country.

"A bulldozer wrecks things. A bulldozer knocks things over. I'm a builder, that's what I am," he said.

"I will build things in this country."