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Australians are tipped to go to the polls in six weeks after a tumultuous three years for the economy, health and global security.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison left Sydney on Sunday morning ahead of a visit to Government House in Canberra to ask Governor-General David Hurley for an election, expected to be held on May 21.

A number of anti-government and Indigenous protesters have gathered outside Government House ahead of the prime minister's arrival.

Mr Morrison enjoyed a curry dinner with his family in Sydney on Saturday night, while Labor leader Anthony Albanese watched his beloved Rabbitohs beat the Dragons in the NRL.

Mr Morrison is aiming to become the first incumbent prime minister to win two elections in a row since John Howard in 2004.

But Labor has been ahead in the polls consistently since June 2021, currently sitting on a two-party preferred vote of 55 per cent.

The government says Mr Albanese lacks the experience to run the country and has been playing a small-target pre-election campaign so far.

"Anthony Albanese has been curled up in a ball not wanting people to know who he was," government frontbencher Peter Dutton told the Nine Network.

"Having been in parliament for 20 years and watched governments of both persuasions, I don't believe the Labor government could have guided us through the last three years in which the coalition has."

Labor's Jason Clare says voters are sick of the "lies and incompetence" of a government that has been in power for almost a decade.

"This is an old government. If they win this election they will have been in power for longer than (former Liberal prime minister) John Howard," Mr Clare said.

Mr Morrison on Saturday released a video in which he points to the natural disasters that have hit the country, the unstable global security environment and the risks facing Australia's economy.

He says 40,000 Australians are alive because of how his government handled the COVID-19 pandemic, with 700,000 still in jobs because of the response to the economic fallout.

"This is why as we go into this next election, what's firing me up - we're actually in a really strong position," Mr Morrison says.

Mr Morrison set an apologetic but committed tone in an opinion piece written for News Corp papers on Sunday.

"Our government is not perfect. But we have been upfront. You know what we stand for, you can see our record of delivery, and you can see our plan for the future," he wrote.

Mr Albanese also released a video on Saturday spruiking his "fully costed plan for a better future".

He introduces himself to voters and talks about his economics degree from Sydney University and six years as infrastructure minister.

"Growing up with a single mum, I know the value of a dollar, and I know how hard it is to get ahead, " Mr Albanese says.

Labor also released an attack video, lampooning the prime minister's video message and declaring: "No more mistakes. No more excuses. No more Morrison".

Mr Albanese wrote an opinion piece in which he pledged to unite the nation.

"That's the approach behind Labor's election campaign - building a better future where no one is left behind and no one is held back," he wrote.

The coalition starts the race with 76 seats out of the 151-seat lower house, with Labor on 69 if the new seat of Hawke in Victoria is considered a win.

Forty seats in the upper house are in contention in a half-Senate election.

Both leaders are tipped to start their campaigns in regional parts of the nation where marginal seats are up for grabs or need defending.

There are concerns the campaigns could be derailed by COVID-19, but steps have been taken to minimise the chances of outbreaks.

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Shehbaz Sharif, the person most likely to be Pakistan's next prime minister, is little known outside his home country but has a reputation domestically as an effective administrator more than as a politician.

The younger brother of three-time prime minister Nawaz Sharif, the 70-year-old Shehbaz led a successful bid by the opposition in parliament to topple leader Imran Khan in a no-confidence vote early on Sunday.

Khan's supporters had tried for hours to block the motion.

Analysts say Shehbaz, unlike Nawaz, enjoys amicable relations with Pakistan's military, which traditionally controls foreign and defence policy in the nuclear-armed nation of 220 million people.

Pakistan's generals have directly intervened to topple civilian governments three times, and no prime minister has finished a full five-year term since the South Asian state's independence from Britain in 1947.

The removal of Khan was a chance to make a fresh start, Shehbaz, the joint opposition candidate to replace the former cricket star as the country's leader, told parliament, soon after the vote.

"A new dawn has started ... this alliance will rebuild Pakistan," he said.

Shehbaz, part of the wealthy Sharif dynasty, is best known for his direct "can-do" administrative style, which was on display when, as chief minister of Punjab province, he worked closely with China on Beijing-funded projects.

He also said in an interview last week that good relations with the United States were critical for Pakistan, in stark contrast to Khan's recently antagonistic relationship with Washington.

There are still several procedural steps before Sharif can become Pakistan's 23rd prime minister - not including caretaker administrations - although the opposition has consistently identified him as its sole candidate.

If he does take on the role, he faces immediate challenges, not least Pakistan's crumbling economy, which has been hit by high inflation, a tumbling local currency and rapidly declining foreign exchange reserves.

Analysts say Sharif will not act with complete independence as he will have to work on a collective agenda with other opposition parties and his brother.

Nawaz has lived for the last two years in London since being let out of jail, where he was serving a sentence for corruption, for medical treatment.

As chief minister of Punjab, Pakistan's most populous province, Shehbaz Sharif planned and executed a number of ambitious infrastructure mega-projects, including Pakistan's first modern mass transport system in his hometown, the eastern city of Lahore.

According to local media, the outgoing Chinese consul general wrote to Sharif last year praising his 'Punjab Speed' execution of projects under the huge China-Pakistan Economic Corridor initiative.

The diplomat also said Sharif and his party would be friends of China in government or in opposition.

On Afghanistan, Islamabad is under international pressure to prod the Taliban to meet its human rights commitments while trying to limit instability there.

Unlike Khan, who has regularly denounced India's Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Sharif political dynasty has been more dovish towards their fellow nuclear-armed neighbour, with which Pakistan has fought three wars.

In terms of his relationship with the powerful military, Sharif has long played the public "good cop" to Nawaz's "bad cop" - the latter has had several public spats with the army.

Shehbaz was born in Lahore into a wealthy industrial family and was educated locally. After that he entered the family business and jointly owns a Pakistani steel company.

He entered politics in Punjab, becoming its chief minister for the first time in 1997 before he was caught up in national political upheaval and imprisoned following a military coup.

He was sent into exile in Saudi Arabia in 2000.

Shehbaz returned from the Gulf in 2007 to resume his political career, again in Punjab.

He entered the national political scene when he became the chief of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party after his brother Nawaz was found guilty in 2017 on charges of concealing assets related to the Panama Papers revelations.

The Sharif family and supporters say the cases were politically motivated.

Both brothers have faced numerous corruption cases in the National Accountability Bureau, including under Khan's premiership, but Shehbaz has not been found guilty on any charges.

© RAW 2022

Anthony Griffin believes St George Illawarra can still prove they are a force in 2022 despite being on the verge of their worst start to a season in 14 years.

With just one win from their opening five games, the Dragons will slip to 1-5 for the first time since 2008 if they suffer a fifth straight loss against Newcastle next Sunday.

The Dragons again struggled to complete against South Sydney in Saturday's 24-12 loss, making errors in eight of 14 sets after getting back to 10-6 down early in the second half.

After defeating the Warriors in round one, the Dragons were in a position to shock Penrith the following week before being comprehensively beaten by Cronulla, Parramatta and the Rabbitohs since.

"We're a good side but we're down on confidence and we have to keep going," coach Griffin said.

"We've just got to get ourselves into a position where we play a full 80 minutes and we earn a win. We had an opportunity to do that (against Souths).

"When we do that, we'll win three, four or five, but at the moment we're beating ourselves and learning some tough lessons.

"We're capable of beating anyone. We've just got ourselves into a position where we have to learn and when we do that we'll get what we deserve."

Griffin was adamant his side had shown signs of improvement against Souths, and were only guilty of shooting themselves in the foot in attack.

The Dragons will at least get Tyrell Fuimaono and Josh McGuire back from suspension against the Knights in Wollongong.

Griffin, however, indicated there will be no returns to the starting side for 19-year-old prodigies Tyrell Sloan and Junior Amone after two weeks out.

Fullback Sloan played reserve grade in the Dragons' NSW Cup win over the Rabbitohs on Saturday, while five-eighth Amone played 25 minutes off the bench in the NRL.

"It wasn't the positional change (that hurt against Souths), it was just straight errors," Griffin said.

"(Sloan) has responded really well. When the time is right and his form is right in those areas, he will get his chance.

"The thing with him and Junior is we put them in there last year straight out of the under-19s.

"They haven't played a lot of football against men other than the NRL and that is a credit to them.

"But I just want to make sure they learn and get the right education, and sometimes that's not in first grade."

© AAP 2022