Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton have made last-ditch bids to convince Australians why they should lead for the next three years.
On the penultimate day of campaigning before Saturday’s election, public polling has Labor in the driver’s seat to form government with an outside shot at retaining majority.
But the prime minister insists the government isn’t getting ahead of itself, after being scarred by an upset defeat to Scott Morrison in 2019.
“I don’t take the Australian people for granted. I’m working my guts out to ensure there’s a majority government,” Mr Albanese told reporters in Brisbane on Friday.
With 76 seats needed to form an outright majority, the major parties’ tallies have shifted since the last election because of defections to the cross bench and seat redistributions.
Labor holds 78 seats and the coalition 57.
Despite facing dire polling and a surge in early voting, the opposition leader remained confident the coalition could still pick up seats.
Almost 5.7 million people had cast their vote and more than 1.5 million postal ballots were returned by Thursday night, accounting for about 40 per cent of eligible voters.
Mr Dutton said he expected “big surprises” on election night.
The election had the hallmarks of 2019, where polling was different to the outcome, he said, claiming candidates had been receiving “pretty remarkable” feedback on pre-poll booths.
Mr Albanese hit Queensland, Victoria and Tasmania on Friday, while Mr Dutton started in South Australia, where the coalition is looking to win Boothby and sandbag Sturt, before heading to Western Australia to target key seats lost in 2022.
Mr Dutton stood alongside Tangney candidate Howard Ong at a 4WD store in Perth, where he again championed his policies to bring down petrol prices.
Labor won the seat with a 2.8 per cent margin in 2022, following a 12 per cent swing away from the Liberals.
“It’s a significant decision for people to make because this is a sliding-doors moment,” Mr Dutton said in Perth.
“I have been coming to WA for 25 years and to watch it at different periods where it’s been down … but when it’s booming, when it’s racing, it is an exciting place, and it will be racing under a government that I lead.”
The prime minister started the day on the attack in Mr Dutton’s Brisbane-based seat of Dickson, which Labor contends is winnable because of its less than two per cent margin but the coalition is confident will be retained.
Greens leader Adam Bandt cast his ballot in his electorate of Melbourne, where he predicted a “renter rebellion” at the election.
Mr Dutton is working to defy history with no party having formed government after one term in opposition since 1931.
The record is set to stay if national polls are to be believed, with the coalition trailing significantly and a seat-by-seat poll released on Thursday by YouGov predicting it could sink to its lowest seat total since the 1940s.
YouGov predicted Labor was on course for 52.9 per cent of the national two-party preferred vote, ahead of the coalition on 47.1 per cent, with the government picking up 84 seats against the opposition’s 47.
Labor’s support was slightly less at 51.5 per cent to 48.5 per cent for the coalition on a two-party preferred basis in the final Freshwater Strategy Poll published by The Australian Financial Review on Friday.
It gave Labor 74 seats and the coalition 64.
The opposition’s campaign has been littered with missteps and backtracks amid a lack of policy clarity and comparisons between Mr Dutton and US President Donald Trump.
Despite Labor’s increased electoral fortunes, its primary vote hasn’t received a major uptick as Australians increasingly look to minor parties and independents.
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