Voting is under way in New South Wales (NSW), with more than four million people across the state set to decide who will form government for the next four years.
By Mar. 24 close to a quarter of the state’s 5.5 million voters had cast their ballots, with nearly 1.2 million people pre-polling and 92,000 lodging postal votes.
Premier Dominic Perrottet and Labor leader Chris Minns have campaigned hard in key seats in western Sydney, where one in 10 Australians live and could well decide the election result.
Perrottet is expected to vote in his seat of Epping, in Sydney’s northwest while Minns will cast his vote in the seat of Kogarah, in the city’s south, which he holds by a 0.1 percent margin.
The premier is seeking a fourth consecutive four-year term for his Liberal-National coalition on a platform of responsible financial management he says would fund life-changing infrastructure.
It would be the first time the party has managed the feat since 1973.
“It is only the Liberals and the Nationals with the long-term economic plan to keep NSW moving forward,” Perrottet told reporters on Friday.
Minns has offered voters the chance for a “fresh start” under Labor, including removing a wage cap on struggling public service workers and promising not to further privatise public assets.
“At this election you can cast a vote for positive change,” Minns said in a final message to voters.
On the eve of the election, Newspoll showed Labor leading the coalition 54.5 to 45.5 on a two-party preferred basis.
This would represent a 6.5 percent swing against the coalition since 2019, putting Labor on a path to claim the 10 seats needed to form a majority government.
The poll put Labor’s primary vote at 38 percent compared to the coalition vote at 35 percent and found Minns had overtaken Perrottet as preferred premier.
A raft of minor party and independent candidates vying for the cross bench could make the difference in the event of a minority government, with the Greens and teals vowing to hold the government to account on climate and other progressive reforms.
Rising financial pressure on families and businesses has put cost of living front and centre of the election, with both parties promising relief in the form of rebates on energy bills and caps on road tolls.
NSW Electoral Commissioner John Schmidt said special assistance was available for those who needed it such as the blind, deaf or anyone needing a translator.
Voters have until 6pm to cast their ballots.
