Voting has started across Australia’s heavily-populated eastern coast in the 2025 election, with opinion polls indicating that Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is on track to become the first leader to win consecutive ballots in more than two decades.

Some of Australia’s largest states began voting at 8 a.m. local time, including New South Wales, Victoria and the northeastern state of Queensland. South Australia and the Northern Territory will kick off casting their ballots half an hour later, followed by Western Australia.

Albanese’s center-left Labor government is fighting for a second term against opposition leader Peter Dutton, a former policeman, in a campaign which has focused heavily on cost-of-living issues following three years of persistent inflation, high interest rates and a national housing crisis.

However, the campaign has been overshadowed by US President Donald Trump’s tariff agenda, with the American leader announcing his “reciprocal” imposts in early April just as both major parties began making their pitch to voters.

Liberal-National Coalition leader Dutton has been forced to distance himself from Trump, who he initially praised, as the US president has become increasingly unpopular in Australia.

Despite that, Dutton has seen has approval rating plunge over the course of the campaign. In the final Newspoll survey published on Friday evening, usually considered a strong indicator of the election result, Albanese’s Labor Party was leading Dutton’s Coalition by 52.5% to 47.5%. If reflected on election night, that will see the Australian prime minister re-elected with either a slim majority or with the support of minor parties and independents.

Early voting has been open for two weeks across Australia and millions of people have already cast their ballots. Voting booths will close across the country progressively from 6 p.m. local time, with the first results likely to begin trickling in one hour later.

Source: Bloomberg
--Agencies