Canberra (TIP): Australia‘s PM Scott Morrison has called for a May 21 election that will be fought on issues, including Chinese economic coercion, climate change and the Covid pandemic. Morrison on April 12 advised Governor-General David Hurley as representative of Australia’s head of state, Queen Elizabeth II, to set the election date.

Morrison’s conservative coalition is seeking a fourth three-year term. The date is the latest available to him. He urged voters to stick with a government that delivered one of the lowest pandemic death tolls of any advanced economy rather than risk the opposition Labor Party. — AP