Australia set for the polls in tight race

Bushfires, droughts, Covid, floods upend country’s once envied way of life

Australians punchdrunk after three crisis-ridden years of fire, flood and plague will go to the polls on Saturday, in a tight race narrowly tipped to end a decade of conservative rule.

Opinion polls have consistently shown centre-left Labor ahead, suggesting a government led by veteran party lawmaker Anthony Albanese that would be more climatefriendly and less antagonistic toward China. But pugilistic Prime Minister Scott Morrison, who leads a conservative coalition, appears to be rapidly closing the gap.

The often-acrimonious campaign has been marked by fears about soaring prices, divisions over Morrison’s leadership and anxiousness about tougher days to come.

The last three years have seen Australia’s once-envied way of life upended by bushfires, droughts, the Covid pandemic and several “oncein-a-century” floods.

Australians have grown markedly more dissatisfied with their lives, more pessimistic about their future and more turned off by traditional political parties, according to polling by Ipsos. For many Aussies, their unofficial mantra of gung-ho optimism — “she’ll be right” — suddenly seems a bit wrong.

Malaise

“It has been a very difficult period for the country,” said Mark Kenny, a professor at the Australian National University. “There’s a fair bit of dissatisfaction with this government, and the prime minister’s standing has been called into question quite a lot.”

Surveys show the malaise is pronounced among women and younger voters, who face the prospect of being poorer than their parents while inheriting a country at the pointy end of climate change and located in an increasingly tough neighbourhood.