Australia voted for its national election on Saturday to choose between the two top contenders, the current Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and the Leader of Opposition Peter Dutton.
Albanese - who represents the center-left Labour Party - voted in the western suburbs of Sydney, while Dutton - leader of the conservative Liberal-National coalition - casted his ballot at his home seat of Dickson.
Polling booths in Australia will be open between 8:00AM to 6:00 PM local time.
Tight Contest In Australia?
After a five week long campaign that was initiated on March 28, reports suggest that Prime Minister Albanese is all set to win the elections amidst promises of decreasing inflation and living cost and better healthcare .
The Parliament was dissolved in March after Albanese visited Governor-General Sam Mostyn. Australia has a three-year-long term for its Prime Ministers which has come to an end, prompting an election on May 3, 2025.
“As I said at the time, it was always going to take us more than three years to clear away the chaos and dysfunction that the Liberals left behind,” Albanese said last week, adding that the Labour government, since coming to power in 2022, has laid a strong foundation.
Dutton today said that he hopes Australians vote for his Liberal-National coalition "to get our country back on track".
"I think a lot of quiet Australians have come out today to support the coalition."
Other candidates include independent candidates like Kate Chaney and left-wing Greens Party, who could become crucial in case of a hung parliament.
A record eight million out of 18 million eligible voters had already cast ballots before Saturday, Reuters reported.
The Trump Card
The Australian electorates have had to worry about U.S. President Trump라이브 바카라 domestic conservative policies and escalating trade war with Australia.
Reuters quoted Andrew Carswell, former press secretary to Liberal Party Prime Minister Scott Morrison, who was voted out of office in 2022. He said that Trump had been "a wrecking ball" for Australia's conservative Liberal-National coalition.
"Australian voters are looking on with concern at what is happening and saying if that is change, we don't want it," he said, hinting at the geopolitical changes since Trump took office.
Reports suggest that these fears have fared well for Albanese - who milked his party라이브 바카라 centre-left approach to distance himself from Trump's right-leaning Republican Party.
According to Reuters, Albanese라이브 바카라 Party has also painted Dutton as an equally conservative politician as Trump - especially since historically Dutton라이브 바카라 Liberal Party has been cozying up to the United States. Additionally, Dutton had reportedly pledged to sharply mitigate immigration and slash thousands of public service jobs, also proposing a policy banning work from home for public servants. Lastly, Dutton라이브 바카라 opinion polls - which were leading till as late as February - plummeted after Trump라이브 바카라 tariff imposition on Australia.
"It became (about) which party could shield Australia from an incredibly uncertain global economic environment, led largely by the actions of the American president," independent political consultant Simon Jackman said to Reuters.
What are the other agendas?
Other important issues for Australia include better universal healthcare - delivered through the Medicare system. With shortage of federal funding, the healthcare in Australia is crumbling, facing shortage of staff and rish in waiting time. Doctors too have started to write their own rules on fees and costs to patients have blown up.
Another crucial issue is inflation - which although has slowed after the 2022 election- is still Australia's major concern. The prices of utilities and food have skyrocketed with affordable housing also a problem.
The Albanese government policies aimed at providing relief, including offering tax cuts, energy rebates and rental assistance to the underprivileged, BBC reported.
How does Australia vote?
The country marks one of the rare places across the world where voting is mandatory. Since 1924, all Australian citizens over the age of 18 with failure to vote carry a fine of A$20 ($13; £10).
There are many measures in place to assist this mandate. Elections are deliberately conducted on Saturday so that voters can visit the polling booth without missing work. Additionally, employers are supposed to give paid leaves to workers on voting day.
Experts suggest that mandatory voting is helpful for democracy. It saves the country from political polarisation since more moderate voters also cast ballots. Furthermore, politicians also have to tend to underprivileged and niche voter bases to cover all grounds.
In 2022, 77% of Australians said they would have still voted if it was voluntary, as per BBC.
The compulsory voting has also given rise to a tradition called ‘Democracy Sausages’ where grilled on barbeques near polling booths. This exercise has become one of the biggest fundraising events of the year for local schools and community groups.
