Australians are voting in a national election on Saturday that polls show are likely to favour Labour Prime Minister Anthony Albanese over conservative challenger Peter Dutton, with voter appetite for change dampened by worries over Donald Trump’s volatile diplomacy.
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Polling booths in Australia – among the few democracies with mandatory voting – are open from 8am to 6pm, although a record 8 million out of 18 million eligible voters had already cast ballots before Saturday.
Both major parties have focused on cost-of-living pressures but opinion polls show that global uncertainty driven by Trump’s stop-start tariffs rapidly became a top issue for voters during the campaign.
The election, Albanese said on Friday, has come down to a choice between the certainty of Labour or the conservative Liberal-National coalition’s “cuts and chaos”. The prime minister flew thousands of kilometres across three states to pitch to voters on the final day of the campaign.
“My Government has offered stable leadership in uncertain times,” he said.
Dutton highlighted difficulties facing Australian families and small businesses.
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