It's voting day in Australia as polls opened in the country's general election on Saturday, with high costs of living and a shortage of housing major issues in the campaign. The voting will continue from 8 am (22.00 GMT Friday) until 6 pm (08.00 GMT Saturday) in eastern Australia. The polls will open and close two hours later on the West Coast. According to authorities, 8.6 million ballots from Australia's 18.1 million registered voters had already been cast, but not counted, before Saturday, since early and postal voting began on April 22.
Voting compulsory in Australia
Notably, Australia is among the very few countries where voting is compulsory, which experts say is the system that favours the creation of centrist governments. In the previous election held in 2022, 90 per cent of eligible voters cast ballots.
While Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's centre-left Labour Party is seeking a second three-year term, his conservative opposition leader Peter Dutton wants to become the first political leader to oust a first-term government since 1931, when Australians were reeling from the Great Depression.
Soaring prices- A major issue
Soaring prices in Australia have become a major issue. Annual inflation peaked at 7.8 per cent a year after Labour was elected in 2022. The central bank's benchmark interest rate rose from a record low of 0.1 per cent to 0. Housing prices and rents have also increased considerably as builders have gone broke because of inflation absorbing profit margins.
Going into the election, Labour held a narrow majority of 78 seats in the 151-seat House of Representatives, the lower chamber where parties form governments. Dutton's conservative alliance of parties, known as the Liberal-National Coalition, held 53 seats in the last parliament, and a record-high 19 lawmakers were not aligned to either the government or the opposition.
Difference in approach over 'Energy'
The current election is the first in Australia in which younger voters outnumber Baby Boomers, born between the end of World War II and 1964.
Energy has been one issue where a major point of difference is seen between both sides. The opposition has promised to build seven government-funded nuclear power plants across Australia that would begin generating electricity from 2035. It seeks to fill the gap between ageing coal-fired plants closing and nuclear generators taking their place by gas-fired electricity.
On the other hand, Labour plans to have 82 per cent of Australia's energy grid powered by renewables, including solar and wind turbines, by 2030 and to rely less on gas.
(With inputs from AP)