Pre-polling smashed previous federal elections

ABC NEWS (Australia)

In the middle of the Anzac long weekend, over 650,000 Australians today turned out to cast their votes early in the federal election. It brings the national tally for pre-polling to almost 2.4 million. The surge is being matched by a strong final-week burst of activity by the major party leaders and their candidates.

Transcript

00:00Too young to vote, but old enough to school the Prime Minister.

00:10Can you say, nice to meet you in Chinese?

00:16Money talked when Anthony Albanese went to Labour's richly diverse Chisholm electorate

00:22with $25 million for 600 community language schools.

00:27We need more languages with the communities.

00:31In Kansas' Mount Peter corridor...

00:34Is this the last stage of this development?

00:36..the opposition's downhill run to polling day gathered pace.

00:40Support to those blocks of land being developed more quickly.

00:43With $34 million on offer to fast-track housing.

00:47We're the only party with a plan.

00:49Peter Dutton reckons there's still smoke, if not fire,

00:53surrounding Labour's intentions on investment property tax breaks.

00:57We can't afford to see negative gearing abolition.

01:00Even as the government edges closer to ruling out any future move

01:04on negative gearing or capital gains tax.

01:07The proof is we haven't made any changes.

01:10And do you rule out future changes, Prime Minister?

01:12Well, I've done that multiple times.

01:14Democracy sausages aren't waiting for the 3rd of May and nor are the leaders.

01:19Seven sleeps to go.

01:22So don't leave anything in the tank.

01:25Anthony Albanese covered three states in one day,

01:28sensing the end of the trail approaches.

01:31It is destination chaos and destination shambles

01:35and destination cuts from Peter Dutton.

01:39The violence has escalated.

01:41The opposition leader maintained a similar pace.

01:43He was in two states and the NT,

01:47promising to press into Labour's suburban heartland in the days ahead.

01:51I think this election is going to be decided this week.

01:53It will be.

01:54Voters are throwing their time and patience at this poll as never before.

01:59Urgency, pace and repetition become the driving force in campaigning from here,

02:03but the audience left to persuade is rapidly shrinking.

02:07That's because the number of voters casting early ballots

02:10is tracking towards a record level.

02:13And by the time we get to next Saturday,

02:15more than half are likely to have already put their ballot in the box.

02:20At Old Parliament House, just over 1,800 voters

02:23and many more around the country are probably making history.

02:28On a long weekend, long lines with a price to pay for having their say.

Category

Transcript

Recommended