It’s election day across the ditch and while the campaign trail has been largely tame, Australia’s polling booths are set to serve up something a little spicier.
About 40% of the country has already had their say with 7.4 million Australians casting their votes by Thursday evening. However, election day still promises plenty of action, including last-minute campaigning alongside the great Australian Democracy sausage.
From sausage stalls to surprise endorsements, Aziz Al Saafin reports on all you need to know as Aussies vote. (Source: 1News)
Unlike New Zealand, where campaign activity is banned on polling day, Australia allows candidates and volunteers to keep pushing their messages right up until 6pm when polls close.
That means plenty of pamphlets, party t-shirts, and how-to-vote cards even as voters queue up at the booth.
Voting is also compulsory in Australia. Turnout usually hovers around 90%, and those who don’t show up risk a fine of $20.
The democracy sausage lives on
It wouldn’t be an Aussie election without the humble democracy sausage - the snag-in-bread tradition that’s become a national icon.
Community groups and schools across the country are once again running sausage sizzles and bake stalls outside polling places, raising money while voters cast their ballots.
From snag stalls to surprise endorsements, here's everything you need to know as Aussies prepare to vote. (Source: 1News)
"The Democracy Sausage Project started in 2013 when some friends of mine wanted to go and vote and get a sausage and found that there was no way for them to tell in advance if there was going to be a sausage," founder of the Democracy Sausage website Alex Dawson told 1News this week.
“In the 2022 election, we had 2200 locations with a listed sausage sizzle or other fundraiser, and this year, we’ve got about 1800 so far.”
Dawson said the sausage was important to Australian voters and something they have long associated with election day as far back as the 1930s.
He's calculated that, based on the numbers of people visiting a website which lists democracy sausage locations, 25% of the population are seeking out a voting booth which comes with a sausage sizzle.
Latest numbers tip a Labor win
With the final campaign events wrapping up, the latest polling shows momentum swinging back towards Anthony Albanese’s Labor government.
A YouGov poll released this week predicts a Labor landslide, giving the party 84 out of 151 seats, well above the 76 needed to govern in their own right.
Just months ago, the race was looking far tighter. Opposition leader Peter Dutton had been outperforming Albanese in preferred Prime Minister rankings earlier this year.
But a turbulent global backdrop, including tensions over Donald Trump and trade, appears to have shifted sentiment back to Labor.
Weirdest campaign moments?
While policy dominated much of the campaign so far, from energy relief and tax tweaks to nuclear power and migration caps, the trail also delivered some bizarre moments.
- Joe Exotic endorses Albanese: The Tiger King, currently in a US prison, released a glowing endorsement backing the Australian PM.
- Albanese falls off a stage: The Labor leader took a tumble during a Perth event. Thankfully, with no serious injuries.
- Dutton kicks a football into a cameraman: Arguably the most awkward moment of the election was a campaign stop gone wrong which saw the Opposition leader boot a footy straight into a news camera operator, who had to be patched up.
Polls open this morning and close at 6pm local time in each state or territory. With Australia two hours behind New Zealand, early results are expected to start coming in from around 8pm NZT.
If the current projections are correct, Australia could be in for a swift result and potentially a second term for Anthony Albanese. Win or lose, at least the democracy sausage will be there to soften the blow for candidates and voters.
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