'Distrusted' Morrison calls for election on May 21

• 

On Sunday, Australia's Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced federal elections for May 21, as he struggles to retain power after three years beleaguered by floods, bushfires, and the Covid-19 outbreak.

Morrison's conservative administration is attempting to win over Australia's 17 million voters, behind the opposition Labor party in a series of polls while presiding over a recovering economy with a 13-year low unemployment rate of 4%.

"This election is about you. No one else. It's about our country, and it's about its future," Morrison declared.

In a news conference in Canberra, the PM claimed that he knew "Australians have been through a very tough time. I also know that Australia continues to face very tough challenges in the years ahead."

According to polls, a large portion of the voters distrusts the 53-year-old leader, who portrays himself as a regular Australian family guy and is unafraid to publicize his Pentecostal Christian beliefs.

Politicians, including two disillusioned members of his own Liberal Party, have accused him of being a bully and an autocrat in the run-up to the election, with one stating he had "no moral compass."

59-year-old opposition Labor Party leader Anthony Albanese is using Morrison's performance during crises to end the rule of the Liberal-National Party.

A Newspoll survey showed Labor leading the coalition 54% to 46% on a two-party basis. 

Morrison and Albanese were statistically tied for the next three-year term as chosen prime minister.

Multiple polls reveal that the expense of living, with fuel prices particularly high since the war in Ukraine, is a major issue ahead of the election.

Extreme weather occurrences blamed on global warming and the government's inadequate response have made Australians uneasy.

Read more: Analysis says Australian government 'aggravating extinction'

Morrison is an outspoken advocate of Australia's massive fossil fuel sector.

He has sworn to mine and sell coal for as long as there are consumers, has boasted of a "gas-fired recovery" from the epidemic, and has opposed global requests to reduce carbon emissions quicker by 2030.

Morrison brought his family to Hawaii for Christmas during the 2019-2020 Black Summer bushfires, which killed more than 30 people. After cutting his break short, Morrison told reporters, "I don't hold a hose, mate, and I don't sit in a control room."

After the pandemic hit, Morrison pumped money into the economy but faltered on vaccines and self-administered rapid antigen tests, according to Mark Kenny, professor at the Australian National University in Canberra.

The government was blamed for a lack of emergency planning after a two-week east coast flooding in February and March.

Morrison has also failed to win over female voters following his handling of rape charges leveled by a female political worker in government, as well as young voters turned off by his pro-coal attitude.

Two prominent advocates for sexual abuse survivors slam Australia's PM, accusing him of using "weasel words" to tame rampant sexual abuse.