Roundup: Australian gov't risks election loss after latest voter survey

Australia's Turnbull government is facing the prospect it may give up enough seats in key election battlegrounds to lose the July 2 federal election, a latest Newspoll revealed on Monday.

Following the coalition's continued slump in popularity over the two months, the latest survey conducted for News Corp publications showed significant "swings" away from the government in key seats around the nation.

The Malcolm Turnbull-led government has suffered a 6-percent swing to the negative in Queensland, a 7.3-percent swing in Western Australia and a 3.6-percent swing in New South Wales.

Newspoll has predicted if voters maintain their current stance toward the government, Turnbull could be out of power on July 3.

Worryingly for the prime minister, the results also showed a drastic fall in support in his home state of New South Wales; the permier's satisfaction level has dropped 18 points since December last year, and is now lower than his predecessor Tony Abbott's popularity before Turnbull took over the leadership.

In a reprieve for Turnbull, he still comfortably leads the "preferred Prime Minister" category, with a 20-point lead (48 to 28) over Opposition Leader Bill Shorten. However the gap has closed significantly from 61 to a 17-point lead the PM had before Christmas.

The latest Newspoll followed the first major leaders' debate on Sunday night, in which both the prime minister and Opposition leader laid out their respective plans for the nation.

Turnbull continued to push his government's agenda on "jobs and growth," and signaled his intent for Australia to have strong economic leadership - which he said Labor would not deliver.

"(Labor) have no plan for economic growth and no plan for jobs," Turnbull said. "It's the same old Labor - just spending."

Meanwhile Shorten hit back at the government's "unfair" tax cuts, saying that Australians would not vote for a leader who gives concessions to the rich and leave the poor to fend for themselves.

"Same old Liberals, just give tax cuts to the top end of town and let the rest of the people make do with not much at all," Shorten said during the debate.

However the debate did draw criticism from experienced Canberra-watchers, with experts lamenting the scripted nature of the debate, while some said both leaders chose to "play it safe."

According to News Corp, a panel of political pundits gave Turnbull victory in the first debate, thanks in part to a "more detailed" performance than Shorten, who committed to short, sharp answers without delving into great detail.

Following the debate on Monday, Foreign Minister Julie Bishop told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) that Turnbull showcased himself and the government as a strong leader with Australia's economic future in mind.

"Turnbull is strong, determined, principled," Bishop said. "Last night he spoke about his business background, his ability to see opportunities where others may not."

"He knows what it takes to run this country, to run the economy, and I think Bill Shorten's performance last night was a very lackluster, a performance that had a long list of grievances but no plans for the future."

Meanwhile Opposition spokesperson Tony Burke said Labor was closing in on the government and Turnbull should be nervous as the election was still weeks away.

"I know we are the underdogs in it but I also know that the fight here is close," Burke said on Monday. Endit