The Australians head to the poll on Saturday to vote in federal elections and choose their next parliament.
The left and right Labour parties in the ruling center led by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese are voting slightly higher than the liberal national coalition led by Peter Dutton in campaigns dominated primarily by the disaster of housing prices.
Here’s more information on how elections in Australia, which have been mandated to vote for in the past century, work:
What is at risk?
Australians vote for the upper legislative assembly and for the House of Representatives.
Voters will elect representatives of their area (members of Congress (MPs)) to the House of Representatives, which is the House of Representatives, which launches or proposes most laws.
Currently, there are 151 elected members. They have held seats for three years. However, this year, redrawing of the district will reduce the House to 150 elected members.
Voters also elect representatives of the Senate state or territory who are Senators who review laws passed in the House of Representatives. There are 76 Senators who have held seats for six years. This year, we’ll be getting 40 of these seats.
To form a government, the party must win a majority (at least 76 seats) in the House of Representatives. If the party is not fully qualified, the party with the most seats will form a minority government by working with small parties and independent members.
In addition to the Union of Labor and the Free State, many independent minor parties are also competing for seats.
What time do you vote in Australia?
Over 7,000 polling stations across Australia are open from 8am to 6pm. Australia has multiple time zones, so here is a breakdown of the times when polling stations are open.
Queensland polling stations, New South Wales, Tasmania, Victoria, Canberra and Jervis Bay, will be open Saturday from 8am to 6pm between 22:00 east Australian time (Friday to 08:00 8:00 GBT on Saturday). The Australian Election Commission (AEC) website lists several polling stations in Canberra for residents of Norfolk Island, a remote overseas territory. However, there is one polling station on Norfolk Island itself, which will open from 8am to 6pm between Norfolk time (21:00 GMT on Friday to 07:00 GMT on Saturday). South Australian polls, Broken Hill (New South Wales’ backcountry near the South Australian border), and Northern Territory will vote from 8am to 6pm Australia’s Central Standard Time (Friday 22:30 GMT to 8:30 GMT Saturday). The AEC website lists polling locations closest to Cocos’ overseas territory or the Northern Territory Keyring, Island, and Christmas Island. They will also vote at Australia’s Central Standard Time (Friday 22:30 GMT to Saturday 08:30 GMT). Western Australia polls are open from 8am to 6pm between Australia’s Western Standard Time (00:00-10:00 GMT on Saturdays).
Can people vote at other times?
Australia has over 500 early voting centres, which will open on April 22nd and close on Friday, May 2nd. As of Thursday, around 4.8 million Australians had already voted early.
During the early voting period, Australians abroad can vote at overseas voting centres, including embassies and consulates. It is not mandatory for Australians to vote, but if they have not voted, they must notify the AEC.
Australia also has a remote voting system that opened on April 22nd. Small AEC teams travel by car, plane, helicopter or boat to collect votes from remote communities. They visited remote areas and islands, including the Cocos Islands and Christmas Island.
Australia also has a mail-order voting system.
How does Australian election work?
In Australia, federal elections are held every three years through a priority voting system.
In Australia, votes are required for citizens over the age of 18. Australia has 18 million eligible voters. Voters must be registered in the election role to vote.
If voters do not vote and submit good reason, they will face a penalty of 20 Australian dollars ($12.75 USD).
After the voter’s identity is verified at the polling station and checked off from the election roll, two ballots are given. No voter ID is required.
The green ballot is intended to select representatives of the House of Representatives. In this paper, voters must rank all candidates running in their constituency in order of preference.
The white ballot is for voters to choose a senator. The ballot lists the parties running in the election at the top of the form, with candidates for each party displayed at the bottom.
In the white paper, voters choose one of two ways to vote. You can choose the party at the top of the form or rank the bottom of the form in order of preference.
Pencils are supplied at the voting centre, but voters are also allowed to vote with the pen.
The candidate wins if he wins more than 50% of his first preference vote.
If a candidate has not reached the 50% threshold, the candidate with the lowest vote will be excluded and his or her vote will be distributed to the candidate whose voter is nominated as the second preference. This process continues until the candidate reaches a threshold.
What do the polls say?
A poll of opinions from YouGov suggested that Albanese’s Labour party had led the Dutton coalition with a narrow margin on a two-party priority vote as of Wednesday. The expected voting share for labor is 31.4%, while the Union is 31.1%.
If Labour is forming a minority government, it is most likely to do so in collaboration with the Greens or Teals, a group of centristic independents focused on environmental issues.
Edel added that while it is likely that Thielles and Green will push workers’ focus on environmental issues, it is unlikely that they will have any impact on foreign policy decisions beyond this issue.
What did the final assembly look like?
Labour won a majority in the last federal election in 2022 with 77 of the 151 seats in the House of Representatives. The Union of Free Nations won 58 seats. The Greens took four.
The election returned labor back to power almost ten years later.
In the Senate, Labour held 25 seats, 30 Union, 11 Green, 6 Minor Party and 4 Independents, and on March 28, Congress dissolved ahead of the federal election, and the caretaker government took charge.
What are the key issues in these elections?
Key issues that shape the vote include housing costs, the economy, defense and energy.
Living expenses
Inflation has caused a sharp rise in the cost of living in Australia in recent years. For example, egg prices rose 11% last year.
The Reserve Bank of Australia raised benchmark interest rates multiple times during the Albanese administration, peaking at 4.35% in November 2023. In 2023, annual inflation peaked at 7.8%.
Home prices
Australia’s high property and rental prices have led to affordable and rare housing, adding to the hearts of voters in this election.
On average, households in Sydney, Australia’s largest city, need to make around AUD$280,000 (US$180,000) each year to provide a median home price of $1.4 million (US$900,000) in Australia, according to a survey by Real Estate Consulting Co., Ltd. The city ranks as the second most affordable in 94 urban areas worldwide, according to a demographic-based survey of International Housing Affordables, written by American urban policy analyst Wendell Cox and published in 2024.
According to property analyst CoreLogic, average rents in Australia increased 4.8% last year after an 8.1% increase in 2023.
“This is a crisis that took decades to create and it will take decades to fix it, but we need someone to step up and take the first step,” Maiy Azize, national spokesman for the Pressure Group, told Al Jazeera.
Labour has pledged to build 100,000 homes for first-time buyers, but liberals have pledged to invest in infrastructure and reduce the deficit to speed up housing approval.
Energy
Australian politicians face growing calls from voters, especially from younger age groups, and do more to move towards clean energy. An independent, nonprofit energy consumer Australia survey in 2023 suggested that about half of Australians aged 18 to 34 years old would like Australia to be equipped with renewable energy by 2030.
Both key parties agree that a transition is necessary, but the way this transition is achieved is to divide them. The coalition is seeking to build seven government-funded nuclear power plants, and could begin providing energy by 2035.
However, Labour has argued that the energy from existing coal and gas generators will not be enough to meet the country’s needs while Australians wait for nuclear energy to begin. Instead, the party proposes to provide renewable energy sources to 82% of Australia’s grid.
How quickly do you know the election results?
After the polling station closes, votes will begin after 6pm, 8:00 GMT. Most mail-in voting counts after Election Day.
The AEC will not publish the final results on election night, but it will take longer to count all the votes, but it will usually start to appear and the results may be shown much earlier.
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