Australians began voting on Saturday in a closely contested national election shaped by concerns over the cost of living, climate policy, and tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump.
From remote desert towns to cities along the coast, millions of Australians are casting their votes to choose between the current Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and the opposition leader Peter Dutton.
Most opinion polls in the days before the election suggested that Albanese’s Labor Party was likely to win a second term in government.
“I’ll leave nothing on the field over the next three years if I’m re-elected as Australia’s prime minister,” Albanese told Channel Seven on Saturday morning.
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Who are the candidates?
The election is being fought between Anthony Albanese, who leads the Labor Party, and Peter Dutton, the head of the Liberal Party.
Both leaders come from working-class backgrounds, which is different from many earlier leaders who often had degrees from top universities or had worked in banking or law.
Albanese, who is 62 years old, grew up with his single mother in a small government-subsidised apartment in inner-city Sydney. He spent much of his youth helping to care for his mother Maryanne, who suffered from severe rheumatoid arthritis.
Dutton, who is 54, is the son of a bricklayer and was raised in the suburbs of Brisbane. After leaving university early, he joined the state police and also worked for a short time in a butcher’s shop. Dutton became a detective in the drugs squad, which he says influenced his strict views on law enforcement and security.
When will the results be announced?
A total of 18.1 million people have registered to vote in the election. According to the election commission, over one-third of them have already voted early.
In Australia, voting is mandatory and enforced through a fine of Aus$20 (US$13), which results in voter turnout rates exceeding 90 percent.
The outcome of the election might be known as early as Saturday night, unless the race is extremely close.
Rising living costs
Annual inflation reached 7.8 per cent in the year following Labor’s 2022 election win. Two weeks before the change in government, the central bank lifted its key interest rate from a historic low of 0.1 per cent to 0.35 per cent . Since then, the rate has been raised 12 times, reaching 4.35 per cent in November 2023.
In February, the central bank lowered the inflation rate slightly to 4.1 per cent , suggesting that the toughest period of financial pressure might be over. Another rate cut is widely expected at the bank’s next board meeting on May 20, amid global economic uncertainty linked to US President Donald Trump’s tariff decisions.
Meanwhile, housing prices and rents have climbed sharply, with several construction companies collapsing as inflation has reduced their profit margins.
Debate on nuclear energy
Although Australia has some of the biggest uranium reserves in the world, it has kept an almost complete ban on nuclear power since 1998.
Peter Dutton wants to change that by removing the ban and starting a nuclear energy industry from the beginning. He believes that nuclear power is the only dependable way for Australia to cut emissions over the long term and is cautious about relying on renewable energy sources.
Anthony Albanese has taken a different approach by putting government funds into solar energy, wind power, and manufacturing focused on clean energy. He has promised to turn Australia into a global leader in renewable energy.
Impact of Trump’s tariffs
The decision by US President Donald Trump to place tariffs on Australian goods may have slightly boosted support for Albanese in recent opinion polls.
Some polls suggested that Dutton lost support because of Trump, whom Dutton had earlier called a “big thinker” with “gravitas” on the international stage.
Both leaders have since taken stronger positions on the matter.
“If I needed to have a fight with Donald Trump, or any other world leader, to advance our nation’s interest, I’d do it in a heartbeat,” Dutton said in April.
Albanese criticised Trump’s tariffs, calling them an act of “economic self-harm” and “not the act of a friend”.
“He has different views, different values,” the prime minister said in a televised debate.
“I support free and fair trade. He doesn’t.”
Rise of independent candidates
For decades, Australian politics has mainly been shaped by two major groups: the Labor Party, led by Albanese, and the Liberal Party, led by Dutton.
But in recent years, more voters have turned to independent candidates, many of whom are calling for more government openness and stronger action on climate change.
Labor held a small lead in polls going into the election, but if the final vote count is very close, a group of at least 10 independent and crossbench members could end up deciding who gets to form the government. That could lead to the creation of a minority government, something that does not happen often in Australia.
A new generation of voters
Both political parties have directed their campaigns at Australia’s changing population. This election is the first time that people born after 1964 outnumber the Baby Boomers, who were born between the end of World War II and 1964.
A big focus for both campaigns has been on helping first-home buyers, especially younger people, enter the housing market, which has become too expensive for many.
