The Australian prime minister Scott Morrison has announced May 21 as the date for this year’s federal election.

The election will be for the House of Representatives and half the Senate, and decide whether the Morrison-led Coalition retains power, or whether to bring in a new Labor government, led by Anthony Albanese.

Morrison’s announcement marks the start of a election campaign that will last for six weeks, a little longer than the legal minimum of 33 days.

The latest polls all put Labor ahead in a two-party match-up, with Labor getting between 53.6 and 56% of the vote in polls conducted this week.

The Coalition is at between 44 and 46.4% of the vote.

If that was the result on election night it would be a complete landslide by historical standards, according to the ABC.

Twelve people have died with Covid-19, bringing the total number of publicly reported deaths with Covid-19 to 489. The seven-day rolling average of reported deaths is 13. The deaths reported today include people who have died over the past 17 days and are made up of one person in their 40s, one in their 50s, three in their 60s, two in their 70s, two in their 80s, and three over 90.

Six were female and six were male.

There are currently 604 people in hospital with Covid-19, 22 of whom are in ICU.

Another 6718 community cases were reported in the last day. The seven-day rolling average of case numbers continues to decline, with today’s seven-day rolling average at 10,543. Last Sunday it was 13,543.

While it is encouraging to see case numbers continuing to drop, it is not unexpected as we generally see lower testing and reporting over weekends, the Ministry of Health said.

Departing Labour MP Louisa Wall has strongly criticised senior members of the caucus, including prime minister Jacinda Ardern, for their treatment of her during her parliamentary career.

Speaking to Q&A’s Jack Tame, Wall, who has been accused by some within Labour ranks of not being a “team player”, admitted she had gone against leadership on some issues because she “disagreed with how they wanted to play the game”.

During the marriage equality campaign, which she spearheaded, she says she was told by the PM’s chief of staff that “if I didn’t do things that the way that they wanted to do, then I was on my own, and I said, ‘OK, I’m on my own.'”

Asked whether she had the prime minister’s full support during her time in parliament, she said there were “messages, probably not so subtle, that it wasn’t just that she didn’t want me in her cabinet. She was obviously very clear that she didn’t want me in her caucus.

“You’re going to have to ask her about why she thought that there was no place for someone like me in the Labour Party caucus.”

She said she was hurt by the lack of recognition of the work she’d done on behalf of Labour “because it was so public”.

The events leading up to the 2020 election, when she was forced out of the Manurewa seat she’d held since 2011, had “profoundly” affected her, Wall said.

“I think there were issues on that selection that undermine the integrity of the New Zealand Labour Party. And I think that’s sad, when we can not adhere to pretty simple doctrines of electoral principles that are quite fundamental to a functioning democracy.”

She also identified the senior Labour MP who confronted her during the marriage equality campaign and asked her “Who the f**k do you think you are?” as Clayton Cosgrove, explaining that he was angry that she, a list MP at the time, had spoken publicly about how electorate MPs should vote.

Wall will be taking up an ambassadorial role with Mfat focused on gender and LBGTQi+ issues in the Pacific following her departure from parliament. Her valedictory speech is on Thursday.

Watch the full interview here.