Aussie gov't facing decisive loss in next election: poll

CANBERRA, April 2 (Xinhua) -- The Australian government is facing a landslide defeat in the next Federal election, a public opinion poll has found.

The latest quarterly Newspoll, published on Monday, found that the governing Liberal National Party (LNP) would forfeit more than 20 seats in the lower house of Australian parliament, the House of Representatives, to the Australian Labor Party (ALP) at an election.

The special poll, taken between January and March, found that Labor led the LNP on a two-party preferred (TPP) basis in every state.

Labor has lost ground in the key battleground state of Queensland in the wake of ALP Leader Bill Shorten vowing to stop the controversial Carmichael coal mine if elected.

Nationally, the ALP held a 53-47 lead over Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's LNP.

Turnbull is now one Newspoll loss short of the 30 consecutive losses he set as a benchmark for the failed leadership of Tony Abbott when he replaced Abbott as PM.

The government's support was the weakest in Victoria and South Australia (SA), considered two of Australia's most progressive states where it trailed Labor 54-46.

Turnbull held an average lead as preferred PM over Shorten of six points, the lowest that figure has been since the last election in July 2016.

In Queensland, the state with the greatest number of marginal seats, the government's primary vote has fallen from 43.2 percent at the last election to 36 percent according to the poll.

Labor's primary vote leads the government's in every state with a national average of 38 percent compared to 37 percent for the LNP.

Even in traditionally conservative rural areas, the LNP can expect just 37 percent of the primary vote, down from 44.2 percent at the election while Labor's has risen from 30.8 percent to also be on 37 percent.

The earliest possible date for the next Australian election is in August 2018. Enditem