Australian far-right party regains poll lead as government slips

SYDNEY - Australia’s far-right One Nation party regained the lead in a national opinion poll as support for Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s centre-left government slipped against a backdrop of elevated inflation and interest-rate increases.The ruling Labor party’s support declined to 27% in the latest Newspoll carried by The Australian newspaper, while One Nation held steady at 28%. Backing for the traditional main conservative coalition edged up to 21%, according to the poll of 1,200 voters conducted last week, which had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.2 percentage points.The result comes a day before the Reserve Bank is expected to deliver its fifth rate rise in 2026 to tackle stubbornly strong inflation, which has been exacerbated by surging fuel costs linked to the US-Iran war. Rising prices and high borrowing costs combined with falling house prices have weighed heavily on consumer confidence.The Newspoll showed net approval ratings for the political leaders of the main parties remained in negative territory. Albanese posted the worst rating of minus-23, followed by centre-right opposition leader Angus Taylor on minus-10 and One Nation leader Senator Pauline Hanson on minus-1. BLOOMBERG