Australia

It sees Prime Minister Scott Morrison go up against one of the country's longest serving politicians, Labor Leader Anthony Albanese.

The rising cost of living and climate change have shaped up as two key issues for voters.

But the election has largely been framed as a referendum on the leaders' characters.

Opinion polls suggest Labor will win by a narrow majority this time around. However, the polls were wildly inaccurate in the last election.

The stark findings are the result of an extensive survey by Australia's Anti-Slavery Taskforce.

The Taskforce's Executive Officer, Alison Rahill, said the Australian government needs greater scrutiny of the Pacific Labour Mobility scheme and that better support is needed for its seasonal workers.

The Taskforce is a social agency established by the Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney, providing support for potential victims of slavery-like practices.

Ms Rahill said isolation and other factors increases the risk of abuse.

The wool industry claims to have identified a workforce shortage of 500 shearers and 500 shed hands, and wants to use Pacific Islands workers in what it hopes will be the start of a steady pipeline of easily exploitable workers.

AWU National Secretary Dan Walton said the union was not convinced there was a genuine worker shortage.

He says despite the ongoing claims by the Shearing Contractors Association of Australia and some woolgrowers of a labour shortage, the fact is the Australian flock has been shorn year after year.

Newton lost a play-off to Tom Watson at The Open in 1975 and finished joint second behind Seve Ballesteros at the 1980 Masters.

His career was ended at 33 when he lost his right arm and eye after being hit by a spinning propeller as he prepared to board a plane.

Newton went on to become a commentator and golf course designer.

In recent years he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease.

The Fusion Centre commenced from its Port Vila location in December 2021.

Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister for Women, Senator Marise Payne, said the Pacific Fusion Centre provides assessments and advice to Pacific decision-makers on the key security issues facing our region, including climate, human and resource security, environmental and cyber threats and transnational crime.

Scott Morrison heads to the election as the first Prime Minister since John Howard, more than 14 years ago, to serve a full term as the nation's leader.

The man trying to stop him from securing the Coalition a fourth term is Labor's Anthony Albanese, a 26-year veteran of the federal parliament.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison

Once dubbed an accidental prime minister after coming to power in a leadership spill that toppled Malcolm Turnbull, Morrison has served a full term with largely no speculation about his leadership.

Morrison locked the date in today after visiting the Governor-General in Canberra. It sets up a six-week campaign that will pit Mr Morrison's Liberal-National Coalition against a Labor Party led by Anthony Albanese.

Mr Morrison said he did not think his government was "perfect" but that the public would judge it on what it had done over the last term.

"Our government is not perfect - we've never claimed to be, but we are up-front and you may see some flaws but you can also see what we have achieved for Australia in incredibly difficult times," he said.

Late Wednesday, Sogavare's office issued a statement revealing he'd hosted a "positive" meeting with a special envoy sent by the Australian government.

Sogavare's office said the men discussed "Australia's core security concerns" about the security agreement, which Australia fears could lay the legal groundwork for a Chinese military presence in Solomon Islands.

It is the fourth time in six years that such severe and widespread damage - caused by warm sea temperatures - has been detected.

Only two mass bleaching events had ever been recorded until 2016.

Scientists say urgent action on climate change is needed if the world's largest reef system is to survive.

There are particular concerns that this bleaching event has occurred in the same year as a La Niña weather phenomenon. Typically in Australia, a La Niña brings cooler temperatures.

The decision comes amid a steady rise in cases fuelled by the highly contagious BA.2 sub-variant of the Omicron strain and concerns of co-circulation of Covid-19 and flu viruses during colder months as most social distancing restrictions end.

A second booster shot will be offered from 4 April to people who had their previous booster shot at least four months ago and are over 65 years, Indigenous Australians over 50, people with disability or severely immunocompromised, Health Minister Greg Hunt said during a media briefing.