Australia will hold a general election on May 3, a hard-to-call contest between two leaders with sharply contrasting visions for the country.
Here are five things you need to know about the coming poll Down Under.
Blue collar boys
The election will pit left-leaning incumbent Prime Minister Anthony Albanese against staunchly conservative rival Peter Dutton.
Both have blue-collar backgrounds — setting them apart from former leaders more typically equipped with Oxbridge degrees and high-flying careers in banking or law.
Albanese, 62, was raised by a single mother in a small government-subsidised flat in Sydney’s inner city.
He spent his teenage years caring for his mum Maryanne as she battled the onset of debilitating rheumatoid arthritis.
Dutton, 54, is a bricklayer’s son, raised in the suburbs of Brisbane in northern Australia.
He joined the state police after dropping out of university, and briefly worked at a butcher’s shop.
Dutton was a drugs squad detective before running for parliament — an experience he says has coloured his hard-nosed approach to law and order.
Going nuclear
Despite sitting on some of the world’s largest uranium deposits, Australia has had an almost complete ban on nuclear energy since 1998.
Dutton wants to reverse this ban and build a nuclear power industry from scratch.
Sceptical of renewables, Dutton has said nuclear power is the only reliable way Australia can reduce emissions over the long term.
Albanese, by contrast, has poured public money into solar power, wind turbines and green manufacturing — pledging to make the nation a renewable energy superpower.
Trump card
US President Donald Trump’s return to power has seen Albanese and other senior officials walking back past criticisms.
Australia’s US ambassador Kevin Rudd previously described Trump as a “destructive” force and a “traitor to the West”.
Albanese himself said in 2017 that the first Trump presidency filled him with “trepidation”.
It is potentially awkward territory, as Australia looks to strengthen ties with its most important military ally.
Although Dutton has been mostly quiet on Trump, he is close to Australian mining magnate and Trump supporter Gina Rinehart.
Rinehart was at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago to celebrate the November election win, and has praised his suite of “drill, baby, drill” policies.
Independents day
Australian politics has long been dominated by Albanese’s left-leaning Labor Party and Dutton’s Liberal Party on the right of the spectrum.
But growing disenchantment among voters has emboldened independents pushing for greater transparency and climate progress.
Polls suggest 10 or more unaligned crossbenchers could hold the balance of power when the dust settles — forcing the formation of a rare minority government.
Vote, or else
Australian elections routinely record some of the highest voter turnout figures in the world.
This is because Australia has enforced compulsory voting since 1924.
Registered voters who do not cast their ballot are slapped with an “administrative penalty” of around Aus$20 (US$12).
The fines are small but effective — since compulsory voting laws were introduced, turnout has never dipped below 90 percent.
Only 18 other countries enforce compulsory voting, according to Australia’s electoral commission.
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