MELBOURNE, April 29 — The opposition Labour Party's lead over Australia's conservative coalition government narrowed further, while a minor right-wing party gained support, a closely watched opinion poll showed today ahead of a general election on May 18.

The Newspoll was released on the day that early voting was set to begin and Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Labour leader Bill Shorten were set to hold their first televised debate.

Labour's lead fell by a point to 51 per cent to 49 per cent from the previous poll two weeks ago on a two-party preferred basis, where votes are distributed until a winner is declared, the Newspoll in The Australian newspaper showed.

Morrison's government had trailed Labour by 54 per cent to 46 per cent in March, before calling the election.

While the race has tightened, Labour is still expected to gain between six and 10 seats to give it the government, the poll showed.

But deals with minor parties could improve the coalition's prospects in preference-vote distributions.

Mining magnate Clive Palmer's United Australian Party, campaigning Donald Trump-style to "Make Australia Great,” has overtaken One Nation to be the second-largest minor party, with 5 per cent of the primary vote, the poll showed.

Labour has focused on boosting spending on education, health and welfare, promising yesterday A$4 billion (RM11.62 billion) in childcare subsidies to a million low-income families and free dental care, worth A$2.4 billion, for the aged.

Morrison campaigned in Sydney yesterday on the issue of immigration, promising to cut annual migrant numbers and freeze the country's refugee intake. He was set to head to Western Australia on Monday with promises to boost defence spending.

The Newspoll surveyed 2,136 voters from Friday to yesterday. The sampling error was plus or minus 2.3 percentage points. — Reuters