MELBOURNE
\nVoting in Australia\u2019s general election ended on Saturday with early returns showing both Prime Minister Scott Morrison\u2019s conservative coalition and the Labor opposition losing ground to smaller parties and climate-focussed independents.
\nThe struggles of the two major parties, amid growing voter dissatisfaction over policies, candidate selection and integrity, raised the prospect of a hung parliament and period of uncertainty while a record number of postal votes are counted.
\nCentre-left Labor had held a decent lead in opinion polls after nine years in opposition, although recent polls showed the Liberal-National government narrowing the gap in the final stretch of a six-week campaign.
\nA Newspoll survey by The Australian newspaper out on election day showed Labor\u2019s lead over the ruling coalition dipping a point to 53-47 on a two-party-preferred basis, where votes for unsuccessful candidates are redistributed to the top two contenders.
\nMorrison and opposition leader Anthony Albanese cast their votes in Sydney after making whistle-stop tours across marginal seats in the final two days of a campaign dominated by rising living costs, climate change and integrity.
\n\u201cToday, Australians are making a big choice about their future,\u201d Morrison told reporters outside a voting centre. \u201cAustralia needs someone who knows how to manage money, knows how to deal with national security interests, knows how to move forward and secure that strong economy.\u201d
\nAlbanese said Australians want a change of government, which he said had nothing to be proud of.
\n\u201cI\u2019ve put us in a position where at worst we\u2019re competitive today. We\u2019re in the hunt here,\u201d Albanese said about his chances at the polls.
\n\u201cIn the fourth quarter, I want to kick with the wind at my back, and I believe we have the wind at our back,\u201d he said in a reference to Australian Rules football, one of the country\u2019s most popular sports.
\nAs Labor focussed on spiking inflation and sluggish wage growth, Morrison made the country\u2019s lowest unemployment in almost half a century the centrepiece of his campaign\u2019s final hours.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
MELBOURNE Voting in Australia\u2019s general election ended on Saturday with early returns showing both Prime Minister Scott Morrison\u2019s conservative coalition and the Labor opposition losing ground to smaller parties and climate-focussed independents. The struggles of the two major parties, amid growing voter dissatisfaction over policies, candidate selection and integrity, raised the prospect of a hung […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":261878,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-261853","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"yoast_head":"\n