Received

A majority of voters approve of the government's superannuation tax plan but Labor and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese have been marked down, the latest Newspoll shows.

The poll conducted for The Australian shows almost two-thirds of voters support Treasurer Jim Chalmers' plan to double the concessional tax rate for super balances over $3 million in 2025.

Of those polled, 64 per cent approved compared to 29 per cent who did not.

A total of 80 per cent of Labor voters approved of the plan but 54 per cent of Coalition voters also supported it, despite Opposition Leader Peter Dutton vowing to repeal it if the Coalition wins the next election.

The poll of 1530 voters conducted between March 1 and March 4 shows the Coalition's primary vote lifting a point to 35 per cent while Labor dropped a point to 37 per cent.

Labor still has a strong lead on a two-party-preferred split, with this measure narrowing to 54-46 per cent.

The poll shows Mr Albanese's approval ratings have fallen to their lowest level since the election, with his satisfaction score dropping to 55 per cent, seven points down on his post-election high of 62 per cent.

Those dissatisfied with his performance rose from 33 per cent to 38 per cent - giving the PM a net approval rating of 17 per cent.

Mr Albanese still has a significant lead over his rival as preferred prime minister, 54 per cent to 28 per cent, but the gap between the two leaders has tightened.

There was little shift in voters' assessment of Mr Dutton's performance, with a one-point fall in net approval rating to minus 11.

The Greens dropped a point to 10 per cent, more than two points down on its election result.

Pauline Hanson's One Nation party lifted a point to a post-election high of 7 per cent while other minor parties and independents remained on 11 per cent.

© AAP 2023

Oscar Piastri has suffered a wretched start to life in Formula One when his debut Bahrain Grand Prix ended after just 14 laps, with the young Australian still stuck in his car in the pit-lane shaking his head.

But the 21-year-old was later adopting a brave face on McLaren's opening-day debacle, adamant that there were still "positives to take" for a team seemingly going in the wrong direction after a dreadful three days.

Piastri himself cut a forlorn figure at the Bahrain International Circuit on Sunday after he and his stricken McLaren were left effectively paralysed in the pits by an electronics problem.

Melbourne's Piastri, who had started 18th of 20 drivers on the grid and had started reasonably well by moving up a couple of places early on with a couple of neat overtakes, had complained over the team radio of gearbox problems.

He'd been told the mechanics would swap his steering wheel as soon as he pitted, which should fix the problem, but when he came in, the stop dragged on agonisingly as it became clear it was too big a fix.

So, Piastri became the first driver to retire in the F1 season, a miserable baptism for the driver who has been touted for great things after a dazzling career in the F2 and F3 ranks.

"It was disappointing to have finished so soon. We were going quite well, got a decent start and made some good overtakes," Piastri told reporters.

"I thought up until the electrical problem, we were doing a good job.

"We hoped changing the steering wheel would fix it, but unfortunately it didn't."

Piastri, the only Australian on the grid after replacing compatriot Daniel Ricciardo at McLaren, added: "There are positives to take and the car seemed to have better pace in the race (than in practice)," he said.

But it proved a double calamity for the British-based team, with Piastri's much more experienced teammate Lando Norris also finishing last of the 17 drivers after suffering mechanical problems throughout the race, some two laps behind Red Bull's race winner and reigning champion Max Verstappen.

Norris's car had suffered a pneumatic pressure leak in the power unit which forced the team to pit him every 10 laps to recharge the system.

McLaren CEO Zak Brown told Sky Sports: "Looks like he (Norris) has some sort of electrical issue, a gearbox issue on track which was electronic-related.

"We changed steering wheels but it didn't seem to have done the trick, so we have to diagnose what it is."

"It's a challenging start to the year," sighed Brown.

© AAP 2023

Gold Coast have crashed Tim Sheens' Leichhardt Oval homecoming, toppling Wests Tigers 22-10 and spoiling any hopes of a bright start to the joint-venture's new era.

The Titans, also desperate to turn things around after a lacklustre 2022, looked an improved side as they made the most of their chances with David Fifita leading the way.

The only concerns for coach Justin Holbrook are a knee injury to Kieran Foran, while prop Tino Fa'asuamaleaui was placed on report for a high shot.

Foran will be sent for scans on Monday, but the club fear a PCL injury which would consign him to a lengthy spell on the sidelines.

After being one of the stories of the summer following a string of big-name recruits, the Tigers were cheered in the warm-up and given a standing ovation onto the field by the 14,667 fans at Leichhardt.

They had the first points through a penalty goal when Gold Coast put a line dropout out on the full, earned two more penalties before the Titans touched the ball and had all the early running.

Then Daine Laurie made an error in attack, and it was back to the same old frustration for Tigers fans, who later began filing out of the famous old ground with 10 minutes to go.

Adam Doueihi offered some signs of promise for the club, as he broke through to score a try in the second half and went to the line to set up another.

But any hopes of a recovery to give Sheens his first win at the club since August 2012 were cruelled by the Tigers' own sloppiness.

"I don't think they won it as much as we probably lost it by way of some of our fundamental errors," Sheens said.

"We had great patches of defence, but there were just little things here and there that went away from us.

"But I saw enough signs there to look forward to next week."

It came after a frustrating first half, in which they had 26 play-the-balls on the Titans' line but could not cross for a try.

Gold Coast, in comparison, had three tackles inside the Tigers' 20-metre zone and led 12-2 at the break.

The visitors' first try came when Foran put Fifta through a hole on halfway and Phillip Sami loomed up in support to finish the job.

With questions lingering over his future amid an approach from Brisbane, Fifita appeared to relish playing alongside Foran and finished the night with 162 metres and five tackle busts.

Sami scored the Titans' next when he won the race to an Alexander Brimson grubber kick, before Sam McIntyre made it 18-2 after the break when the Tigers let a Tanah Boyd bomb bounce.

Any hopes the Tigers had of getting back into the match at 18-10 were extinguished when Brimson scored off a superb Jayden Campbell ball after a scrum.

"We didn't have attacking opportunities through the game, but geez we defended well," Holbrook said.

"It was a really tough win.

"It's full credit to the players and staff for the area they have worked so hard in, and we got tested as good as we could for round one."

© AAP 2023