• Albanese is looking for re -election, facing opposition leader Peter Dutton.
• PM Albanese promises to focus on renewable energy, healthcare.
• Result that is likely to be announced by tonight in the middle of mandatory voting.

SYDNEY: The vote began across Australia on Saturday in a national election dominated by rising prices, climate anxiety and the disruptive influence of US President Donald Trump.

From supermarket shelves to global headlines, inflation and foreign policy have weighed heavily on the campaign.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is looking for another period facing Peter Dutton, who has touched controversy with his praise for Trump.

The almost universal consensus across a series of polls leading up to election day was that Albanese’s government party would win another period.

“I leave nothing on the field for the next three years if I re -elected as Australia’s Prime Minister,” Albanese told Channel Seven on Saturday morning.

“I hope we receive a majority government today so that we can build on the foundations we have laid. Australia has turned the corner.”

The first polls opened at 1 p.m. 8:00 (2200 GMT) on the east coast of Australia, which was later followed by the country’s western cities and remote island territories.

A total of 18.1 million voters have signed up for the election. More than a third of them have given an early vote, the electoral authority said.

Voting is mandatory, enforced with fines on AUS $ 20 (US $ 13), leading to turnout that top 90 percent.

A result could come as soon as Saturday night unless the vote is very tight.

Albanese, 62, has promised to embrace renewable energy, tackle a deterioration of housing crisis and pour money into a creaking health system.

Trump falls

Liberal party leader and former police officer Dutton, 54, want to cut immigration, crack down on crime and ditch a long -standing ban on nuclear power.

Some polls showed Dutton leaking support because of US President Trump, whom he praised this year as a ‘great thinker’ with ‘Gravitas’ on the global scene.

“I mean, Donald Trump is as angry as a cut off snake, and we all know,” said voter Alan Whitman, 59, before throwing his ballot on Saturday.

‘And we have to tip around it.’

As Australians rose on Trump, both Dutton and Albanese took a more pugnacious tone.

‘If I needed to fight Donald Trump or any other world leader to promote our country’s interest, I would do it in heartbeat,’ Dutton said in April.

Albanese condemned Trump’s tariffs as an act of ‘economic self -damaging’ and ‘not a friend’.

Financial concerns have dominated the competition for the many Australian households struggling to pay inflated prices for milk, bread, power and gasoline.

‘The cost of living – it’s extremely high at the moment. So also honey, is also another really big thing. Petrol prices, all the basic things, ”Human Resources Manager Robyn Knox told AFP in Brisbane.

Owner of the small business Jared Bell had similar concerns.

“Our grocery stores are definitely much more expensive than they were a few years ago,” he said.

Campaign stumbles

Both Albanese and Dutton tried to tell themselves as men’s men, but were blunted when asked about the price of eggs in a national television debate.

Kul-Mining Superpower Australia chooses between two leaders with sharply contrasting ideas about climate change and reduction of emissions.

The Government of the Albanese has embraced the global push against decarbonization, which warns of a future in which iron ore and polluting coal exports no longer make the economy.

Dutton’s signature policy is a $ 200 billion scheme to construct seven industrial nuclear reactors that remove the need to increase renewable energy sources.

The 36-day campaign was a pretty hard affair, but there were a few moments of unwritten levity.

Albanese tumbled backwards from the stage at a swinging campaign -Rally, while Dutton pulled blood as he hit an unsuspecting cameraman in the head with a straying football.

It is back to see if Albanian or Dutton will command a direct majority or whether they are forced to throw together a coalition with the support of smaller parties.

Growing settlement among voters has been pushing independent, pushing for greater transparency and climate.

Voting has proposed 10 or more unjustified crossbenchers could keep the balance of power – making a rare minority government a clear opportunity.