Australia’s Labor government extends slide in opinion polls

Support for Australia’s center-left government fell to a new low as approval for Prime Minister Anthony Albanese weakened, according to a new poll.

Labor’s primary vote dropped to 27% in the latest Newspoll carried in The Australian newspaper, compared with 37% a year earlier. Meanwhile, support for Pauline Hanson’s One Nation party remained around 30% to hold the largest share of support among the parties, according to the poll of 1,244 voters.

The result comes at a time when Australia’s central bank is expected to deliver an additional interest rate hike next week to control stubbornly high inflation, a problem worsened by higher fuel costs linked to the US-Iran war.