Exit polls tip Labor to win Australia election
SYDNEY, May 18 (AFP) - Exit polls in Australia's climate- dominated election campaign pointed on Saturday to a win for Labour after six years of conservative rule.
Between 16 and 17 million people were expected to vote across the vast island-continent in a bitterly fought election that may be the first anywhere decided by climate policy.
As the first polls closed, a NineGalaxy exit poll showed Bill Shorten's Labor beating the governing Liberal coalition 52-48, which would signal a clear parliamentary majority for the opposition. A second poll for Ten network showed a similar margin of victory.
The polls were still open in the west of the country.
Casting his ballot in Melbourne, would-be prime minister Shorten was bullish about forming a majority government after a final poll before the vote showed his lead increasing.
“Today is the people's day,” he said. “Be it buying a ' democracy sausage', the kids having a bit of a sugar cake or what have you, and voting,” he added, referring to the tradition of serving grilled sausages on election day.
Weeks ago, PM Scott Morrison's conservative Liberals had been heading for an electoral drubbing. But he has closed the gap with a negative campaign and backing from the country's biggest media organisation owned by Rupert Murdoch.
Anger over the government's inaction on climate change may prove the real difference between the two parties. Australia is one of the most vulnerable of all developed nations to climate change and a season of record floods, wildfires and droughts have brought the issue from the political fringes to front and centre of the campaign.