.png)
13 hours ago
9
Key events Show key events only Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature
The prime minister Anthony Albanese was on ABC earlier this morning, saying “back to back wins” is “what we are aiming for today”.
He made his final pitch to undecided or disillusioned voters:
We have a plan for cost of living relief today, by investing in tomorrow. We have a plan to make sure that we continue to build more urgent care clinics. 1.3 million Australians have benefited from that … 600,000 Australians have benefited from free TAFE … And for every single Australian taxpayer, all 14 million of them … will get a tax cut. We’ve created a million jobs since we were in office. Unemployment is the lowest it has been for any government in 50 years. But we know that there’s more to do, but if we get it right, if we are optimistic about Australia’s future, including acting on climate change and the opportunity it represents, not just the challenge, then we can be incredibly successful as a nation, and that stands in contrast to our opponents who’ve been bumping into each other on the field, who haven’t been able to take a mark during this campaign because they don’t know what they are doing.
Final polls show Labor in lead
Josh Nicholas
Labor is leading the Coalition 51.4% to 48.6% in Guardian Australia’s poll tracker, after a flurry of final polls from DemosAu, Newspoll, YouGov and Roy Morgan. This is close to a repeat of the last election, but, as you can see in the chart below, even on election day there is still uncertainty.
Labor’s estimated primary vote is steady at 30%, and the Coalition 33% in the latest average. The polls have Labor’s primary vote a little bit higher than this, but the model thinks there might be an overestimation of Labor as was seen in previous elections.
The estimated primary share for the Greens is about 13% according to our model, which would be about a one point increase on the last election. Others and Independents, a group that includes One Nation and the Teal independents, are on 23.5%, up about four points.
It is unclear how this will translate into seats given the increase in the number of electorates that are three-way contests, rather than coming down to a fight between Labor and the Coalition. Pollster Shaun Ratcliff told Guardian Australia that the latest polls show the Coalition “going backwards” in a selection of key seats he has been tracking, after initial polls in February had the Coalition ahead.
You can find more granular breakdowns of the polls, including by demography, on our tracking page.
How did Australians in Antarctica vote?
Emily Wind
Somewhat further afield, Australians have already voted, Emily Wind reports:
In the leadup to election day, Australians have cast their ballots in a number of remote locations and even from overseas – but none as far south as the 100-odd expeditioners currently working in Antarctica.
Expeditioners working at Australia’s Antarctic and sub-Antarctic stations were able to cast their vote by telephone – a process typically reserved for voters who are blind or have low vision – with no physical ballot booth setup this year.
Voting opened on 22 April, with expeditioners able to vote early or on election day. But, unlike others, they won’t be fined if they do not vote, according to the Australian Electoral Commission.
The AEC says Australians travelling to work in Antarctica need to register as an Antarctic elector before leaving the country – with “Antarctic” including the Australian Antarctic Territory, the Territory of Heard Island and McDonald Islands, Macquarie Island, and a ship at sea in transit to or from Antarctica.
Arrangements were put in place for expeditioners on the RSV Nuyina in case it arrived back later than scheduled (on 2 May, the day before the election).
Polls open in eastern states
It is just past 8am here in Sydney, and the polling booths are officially open!
Voters can lodge their ballots between 8am to 6pm today.
For a refresher on when, where and how to vote, here is our 2025 voting guide with everything you need to know.
Final Newspoll of campaign
The final Newspoll of the campaign suggests Anthony Albanese will defy the trend of recent years and become the first prime minister to win a second term since John Howard.
The survey for the Australian has Labor leading the Coalition by 52.5-47.5% on a two-party preferred basis.
On a primary vote basis, Labor is on 33 percentage points, the Coalition on 34, Greens on 13, One Nation on 8.
What’s more, it shows that a majority of voters think they will be better off with another Labor government than with the Coalition.
The outcome, however, remains on a “knife-edge” according to our political correspondent Dan Jervis-Bardy. While Albanese looks like he has his nose in front, Peter Dutton is still claiming he will win a shock victory.
Read Dan’s piece here:
Cait Kelly
Asked what she thought was going to cut through, Gallagher said:
We’ve had a clear message. We’ve provided our costings and transparency. We’ve let people know how we want to help them and I think what they saw yesterday afternoon with the release of the Liberal costings – no wonder in the dying days of the campaign – you know, bigger deficits, higher taxes, and savage cuts to Medicare to pay for nuclear and I think that certainly has been front and centre of people’s minds. What do you want for the future?
Do you want seven nuclear reactors built around this country that you’re going to pay for with your taxes?
Asked if she gave the Coalition credit for finding things to save on in their costings, she said:
I think that the release of costings yesterday was a massive con job. I don’t accept for a moment – and I’ve looked at the costings pretty thoroughly – that they would actually with that plan deliver an improved bottom line. It’s made on dodgy numbers about public service cuts – 41,000 jobs to go.
Cait Kelly
Last-minute pitches to voters
Labor’s finance minister, Katy Gallagher, and the shadow minister for home affairs, James Paterson, were both on 7:30 last night to make their final pitch to voters.
Paterson denied the Liberal party was going to change the pension for people overseas after the Coalition’s costings suggested the party would change the social security rules so people travelling internationally would get just four weeks’ payments.
Paterson said:
This prime minister as of today has told more than 100 lies in this campaign. His latest lie is that the opposition is proposing changes to the pension for people who travel overseas. There are no such changes. We are making no changes to people on the pension who travel overseas.
Paterson said many voters would make up their mind right before they enter the booth:
They’ll have to decide if they want $14 off a tank of petrol or diesel. Do they want a $1,200 tax rebate next year? Do they want a strong economic plan under Peter Dutton, who can get cost of living under control and our country back on track?
Election day dawns
Good morning and welcome to our election day blog. It’s been a long, gruelling five weeks but at long last the day has arrived – despite the fact that around seven million people have already voted.
We will be around the grounds this morning – from all parts of Australia to Antarctica and London and back again – to bring you the news of how everything’s going down.
