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Federal election 2019: Live coverage as Australia decides its next PM

It was a simple question any political volunteer should be able to answer immediately. These workers responded with awkward silence followed.

Sam Clench, Charis Chang with Natalie Wolfe and Shannon Molloy
less than 2 min read
May 18, 2019 - 3:20PM
Signs in Melbourne.
Signs in Melbourne.

Welcome to news.com.au's live, rolling coverage of the federal election campaign.

After an exhausting 37 days of campaigning, Scott Morrison and Bill Shorten will spend their final hours trying to swing still-undecided voters before the polling booths close. News.com.au has reporters on the ground and trailing both leaders across the country.

Follow us for live updates throughout the day and well into the night as the nation decides who will be Australia's next Prime Minister.

Live Updates

Time for the results

We're going to wrap up the daytime blog here. But that doesn't mean the fun has stopped.

Head on over to our evening blog for all the election results live.

Or keep reading this one to see what happened earlier today.

Which seats the leaders visited

After a long day of campaigning, Bill Shorten is about to return to his hotel to spend time with his family before the results begin rolling in.

Today he visited the Liberal-held electorates of Higgins, where Liberal PM Kelly O'Dwyer is retiring; Liberal MP Michael Sukkar's seat of Deakin; and Chisholm, held by the now-independent Julia Banks who has decided to contest a different seat.

The only marginal Labor seat he dropped into was the newly named Macnamara, which Josh Burns is seeking to retain after Michael Danby's retirement. The seat was previously called Melbourne Ports and is on a 1.2 per cent margin.

Earlier this morning, Mr Shorten cast his vote in his own seat of Maribyrnong, and statistics released by the Labor camp show his home state of Victoria has been a popular stop for Mr Shorten.

During the campaign Mr Shorten has spent the most time in Victoria, doing 21 events during nine visits across 13 days.

He has visited 10 seats including Chisholm, Corangamite, Deakin, Gellibrand, Hotham, Kooyong and La Trobe.

Queensland was the next most popular destination, with Mr Shorten visiting the seats of Dawson, Fisher, Flynn, Griffith, Herbert, Leichhardt, Petrie and Ryan.

In NSW, Mr Shorten has done 18 events across nine days but has concentrated his visits to seven electorates including Bennelong, Gilmore, Greenway, Lindsay, Reid and Robertson.

He has visited the electorate of Swan in Western Australia, three times and Stirling twice. He has also stopped at Cowan, Fremantle, Hasluck and Pearce.

In Tasmania, he has visited Lyons twice and Braddon twice, along with Bass and Clark.

First exit poll predicts Labor win

We have our first exit poll of the evening and it's good news for Labor.

The Nine-Galaxy poll shows a 2.5 per cent swing towards Labor in NSW, 3.2 per cent in Victoria, 1.1 per cent in Queensland, and 2.5 per cent across Western Australia, South Australia and Tasmania.

Nine's political editor Chris Uhlmann said that would put 13 Coalition seats within reach for Labor.

"I think it is very early days. Of course it is a troubling exit poll, but the pre-polling then becomes exceedingly important," said former Liberal deputy leader Julie Bishop, ever the optimist.

Palmer 'volunteers' left speechless

Most of the people handing you how-to-vote cards today are extremely passionate about the cause. Others are just in it for some quick and easy cash.

As our friends at The Cairns Post report, Clive Palmer appears to have hired young models to man polling stations for the United Australia Party today.

There's a wonderfully awkward video with three of those workers, who were stumped when asked about the UAP's policies.

"What about Clive Palmer's policies do you like the best?" reporter Chris Calcino asked.

There was a long pause as the trio looked down at their how-to-vote cards, seemingly searching for a good answer.

"Tax cuts," they eventually decided.

They denied the claim that Mr Palmer was paying them.

"No. Just volunteering," one said.

"Because you love Clive?" Calcino asked.

"Just something different," she replied.

Mixed signs in Warringah

With polling booths due to close soon, we're hearing some reports back about the day's campaigning.

In Warringah, where independent Zali Steggall is attempting to oust former prime minister Tony Abbott, there have been some mixed responses.

Zali Steggall's team told news.com.au there had been a "very good feeling" in Manly.

But a spokesman said the Allambie area had been tougher for them.

Seaforth was "strong" and sentiment in Mosman and Neutral Bay had been "positive".

Mr Abbott has a 11.6 per cent margin in the electorate, so technically it would take a massive swing to seize the seat.

But that existing margin was racked up against the Greens in 2016. Ms Steggall is likely a more palatable option for Warringah voters.

GetUp!'s final push to oust Dutton

The left-wing activist group GetUp! hired a plane to fly above the seat of Dickson today, trailing the words "Ditch Dutton" behind it.

"Under the LNP health costs are sky high so it seemed appropriate," the group said.

You have to wonder how many voters were swayed by it.

Say you were planning to vote for Peter Dutton. But then a plane flew overhead telling you to ditch him. Would that be enough to change your mind? Yeah, probably not.

I'm also wondering whether GetUp! stopped to consider the number of wasteful carbon emissions their plane was so ironically spewing into the air.

'Sausage boy' gets hero's welcome

He's the hero Australia deserves, and the one we need.

A student from Eastwood, Cameron Last, has spent his day travelling to a bunch of different polling places and stuffing his face with as many sausage sizzles as possible. He's already exceeded 10.

Wherever he goes, he gets a well deserved hero's welcome, as this video shows.

Note the woman yelling: "Yaaaay, sausage boy! Sausage boooooooy!"

Alan Jones to retire?

Another claim spreading like wildfire on social media is that conservative radio broadcast Alan Jones has vowed to quit if Labor win the election.

The Sydney shock jock apparently made the pledge on air this week, saying Bill Shorten as Prime Minister would inspire him to retire and step back from all public appearances.

It’s been repeated countless times on Twitter and Facebook, but Jones said nothing of the sort.

Greens Senator’s cheeky diss

It looked like your standard election eve message from a politician, but Senator Mehreen Faruqi slipped in a cheeky dig at Scott Morrison.

The Greens figure took to Twitter on Friday night with a 14-post message outlining the party’s policy and a plea for voters to support her.

But the first letter of each tweet spells out “ENGADINE MACCAS”.

For those not familiar with the political meme, it refers to an unsubstantiated claim that Mr Morrison once had an involuntary bowel movement at a McDonald’s in 1997.

The story emerged last year when musician Joyride made the allegation on Twitter, saying it occurred at the Engadine fast food restaurant after the Cronulla Sharks lost the Grand Final.

It's become a bit of a thing online, with the Prime Minister's social media posts usually filled with comments referencing the alleged incident.

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Original URL: https://www.news.com.au/national/federal-election/federal-election-2019-live-coverage-as-australia-decides-its-next-pm/live-coverage/869e99c7d4234176c27dab5c16428f1a