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As voters flock to the polls, and run the gauntlet of volunteers armed with how-to-vote cards, we want to hear from you.
Had the best democracy sausage of your life? Waiting in an extraordinarily long line? Seen something that doesn’t seem quite right?
Let us know below.
Peter Dutton is finished up for the day and won’t make further public appearances until he arrives at the Liberal Party function at the W Hotel in Brisbane later this evening.
The wealthy western suburbs seat of Curtin in Perth has been one of the most fascinating contests in the state this election and this morning was no different, with both candidates trading barbs over negative ads minutes after polls opened.
After voting at West Leedervile Primary School, teal independent Kate Chaney said the attack ads had been “thicker and faster and more desperate than last time”.
“That’s understandable because I think the major parties are deeply threatened by the idea of a parliament that actually holds them to account,” she said.
Teal independent Kate Chaney casts her vote at West Leederville Primary School in the electorate of Curtin.Credit: Getty Images
Her Liberal opponent, former Uber executive Tom White, said that was politics.
“I’ve been on the receiving end of it myself, but I’m not a whinger. I’m not a complainer. That’s life. The stakes are very high,” said White.
In his final public appearance of the election campaign, Albanese visited Reid, a neighbouring electorate to his own seat of Grayndler, held by Labor MP Sally Sitou on a margin of 5.2 per cent.
He thanked Labor campaign volunteers for their work over the past few weeks.
“We live in a vibrant democracy where everyone gets their say and every one gets one vote, one value,” he said.
Anthony Albanese at Five Dock Public School in the Division of Reid with local MP Sally Sitou, his fiancee Jodie Haydon and dog Toto.Credit: Getty Images
“It’s a great thing, around the world. Democracy is something that shouldn’t be taken for granted. We should cherish it, nourish it, and for everyone handing out today and participating in the democratic process as well, no matter who they’re handing out for, it’s a good thing they’re participating.”
Although this close to polls closing, he would never say it publicly, Albanese looked like a man confident in securing a majority.
Alt-right figure Simeon Boikov or “Aussie Cossack” has asked for voters to use messaging app Telegram to send him pictures of spoiled ballots which depict votes cast for Vladimir Putin.
Photos of spoiled ballots include for the NSW electorates of New England and Kingsford Smith and for senate ballots in NSW and Queensland.
Each of them show drawn boxes at the bottom of the listed candidates to include a new box reserved for the president of Russia.
Boikov is vocally pro-Putin and is living in the Russian consulate in Sydney to evade arrest warrants after allegedly assaulting a man at a pro-Ukrainian rally in 2022
Labor is sending out mass texts telling voters about the Greens’ decision to run open tickets in the crucial Melbourne seats of Menzies and Deakin.
The Greens are not giving preferencing instructions in these ultra-marginal Labor versus Liberal seats, handing Liberal incumbents Keith Wolahan and Michael Sukkar an advantage.
Albanese was in Menzies this morning and expressed confidence about winning the seat.
The Greens’ decision has infuriated Labor and was made in reaction to Labor’s decisions to run an open ticket in the Greens target seat of Macnamara.
“Preferences are critical for keeping Dutton out and this decision by Adam Bandt will put in jeopardy Labor forming government,” a mass text from Labor national secretary Paul Erickson said.
A senior Liberal MP said the Greens’ move might save the political careers of Sukkar and Wolahan.
Tens of thousands of Australians are having their say at 111 overseas DFAT and Austrade-managed voting locations across 83 countries.
This is the highest number of overseas polling places available to Australian voters on election day.
Many Australians living in Bali, as well as tourists, are voting in person on the holiday island.
Australians in Bali will have to forego their holiday to vote today.Credit: iStock
“Our in-person voting centre at the Australian Consulate-General in Bali has been a hive of activity all week. It is one of a record number of overseas voting locations this federal election,” said Australia’s Consul-General to Bali, Jo Stevens.
In Osaka, Japan, Australians visiting and exhibiting at World Expo 2025 can also cast their ballots.
“Expo 2025 is a powerful platform to showcase the best of Australia to the world. It’s also a moment to reflect on the values we represent as a nation – democracy, openness and global collaboration,” said Australia’s expo Commissioner General Nancy Gordon.
Labor’s candidate for the Melbourne electorate, Sarah Witty, is in good spirits as she hands out leaflets to voters outside St Martin’s Hall in South Yarra.
The electorate of Melbourne has belonged to Greens leader Adam Bandt for 15 years, and while it remains a safe seat for the party, the margin has been narrowing, falling from 22.6 per cent in 2019 to 10.2 per cent in 2022, before a drop to about 6.5 per cent with a change in electoral boundaries.
Witty is hopeful for a surprise win that would hand the electorate back to Labor, which until 2015 had held the seat for more than a century.
“I think there’s been a big swing against the Greens. All the conversations I’ve had leading up to the campaign have been ‘I’ve voted for the Greens for the last 15 years and I can’t do it any more.’”
Witty, a foster carer, says she joined the ALP in the past couple of years and should she win the federal seat, she will step down from her role as chief executive of charity The Nappy Collective.
A steady stream of Australians have been filing into the consulate compound in Shanghai this morning to cast their votes.
Many of them, like 70-year-old Li Haizhong, who is visiting family in Shanghai with his wife, are dual citizens. But there are also expats and travellers trickling in from across the city.
“I’m going to vote Labor. I always vote Labor,” says Li, a retired glass manufacturer who emigrated to Australia after the Tiananmen Square protest in 1989, and lives in the seat of Barton, in Sydney’s south.
Labor and the Liberal Party have waged an increasingly intense fight for the support of Chinese voters, who are seen as crucial constituents, particularly in marginal seats such as Bennelong (Sydney) and Chisholm (Melbourne).
In the final days of the campaign, Foreign Minister Penny Wong has appealed directly to voters in videos posted to Chinese apps WeChat and Rednote, accusing the Liberal Party of questioning the loyalty of Chinese Australians and Dutton of weaponising Australia’s relationship with China.
Sadly, there were no democracy sausages on offer at the consulate, though the compound’s adopted cat was patrolling the grounds in an Australian-flag neck scarf.
Our reporter Charlotte Grieve is following developments in the key Melbourne seat of Bruce. She writes:
For the first time in this campaign, the Liberal Party told me the whereabouts of its Bruce candidate.
Yesterday, I received an email from party HQ informing me Zahid Safi would be at Dandenong Stadium at 8.30am to cast his vote.
So I arrived at the heaving polling booth in the chilly morning for his arrival, hoping to catch a last-minute glimpse of the man who could very well be elected to parliament tonight.
Zahid Safi votes in Bruce.Credit: Charlotte Grieve
Safi arrived at 8.50am – the second time we’ve met on this campaign – flashing a big smile and holding a Liberal how-to-vote card. “Wish me good luck. Thank you guys,” he said, about to walk away.
I tried my luck one last time, asking Safi how he thinks the campaign has gone, what the key issues are, and offered him the opportunity to comment on the many scandals surrounding him. We reported yesterday that his NDIS business, Willow Support Services, is under investigation by the NDIS Commission.
But I got no answer.
Herald Sun reporter Oscar Jaeger asks: “Are you confident?”
Safi replies: “We are confident. We believe the people of Bruce, they want a change.”
Read more in our Victoria’s hot seats blog here.
Dutton has just voted at a local primary school with his family alongside him.
He is now around the back of the school chatting with the women running the tuck shop.
“It’s been a very encouraging response today at election booths,” he said outside the voting booths.
Peter Dutton votes with wife Kirilly and sons Harry and Tom at the Albany Creek State School.Credit: Getty Images
He said he was “very confident” Australians would see through the claims of the Albanese government.
“There are a lot of quiet Australians out there today who will support the Coalition.”
Dutton hugs son Harry after voting.Credit: James Brickwood
