Australian federal election 2022: Anthony Albanese and Scott Morrison make last-minute campaign stop in Melbourne as Australia votes – live news

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Caitlin Cassidy has done a sterling (Stirling?!) job breaking down the seats that matter in this article:

Good on you for getting involved Sylvie! (posted with mum’s permission)

Josh Taylor is a good journalist and a good sausagist.

Could be a late night for the boffin.

Scott Morrison has handed out how-to-vote cards with candidate Richard Welch at Laurimar Primary school in McEwen.

Morrison and his wife Jenny received stems of eucalyptus leaves from traditional elder Ian Hunter, who played the didgeridoo as the pair walked towards the polling booth entrance.

Morrison congratulated Welch for standing up for the community. He said:

If you get that opportunity today, I think you’ll be an outstanding member of parliament.

This community needs someone who understands how it’s growing.

Welch said he was ready to roll up his sleeves.

Morrison thanked supporters handing out how-to-vote cards and posed for selfies with voters.

He was heckled by minor party supporters with yelling about conspiracies such as “don’t sign the WHO pandemic treaty”.

“Keep our bodies away from the WHO,” one UAP supporter yelled. Morrison was quick to reply “we’re not”. “That’s a complete lie,” he said. “You’re just making stuff up.”

One Greens supporter also yelled about bushfire survivors, saying some were still without houses.

One couple that walked past didn’t appear to notice it was the prime minister, taking his flyer and walking inside.

The back of the how-to-vote cards was coloured red, with bold font stating: “Send Daniel Andrews a message! Put Labor last”.

This is an edited post sent by a pool reporter travelling with Morrison.

There were 45,000 registrations for telephone voting by the close of business last night, the Australian Electoral Commission says.

There has been brouhaha in the seat of Goldstein going right back to the local council bylaws regarding election signage (remember that?), and independent candidate Zoe Daniel says she woke up to this outside her house in the Melbourne electorate this morning:

Anyway, check out this great preview of the seat:

Not much of a queue, but a stand selling homemade jam, in central Victoria.

Someone really should have brought a basketball.

It also appears one option has already sold out!

The Melbourne journalist Margaret Simons has gone gonzo (kind of): she tested positive for Covid-19 this morning, so had to use the Australian Electoral Commission telephone voting system.

The AEC scrambled to change the criteria for telephone voting this week, after it was criticised for limiting eligibility to those who tested positive prior to 6pm on 13 May. But Simons posted that the whole process had ran rather smoothly for her today:

This story from Mostafa Rachwani on first time voters is lovely.

Anthony Albanese has pressed the flesh at a polling station in Higgins, meeting voters (and a bunch of dogs) in the Victorian marginal Liberal seat that Labor wants to win.

Arriving shortly after polls opened, the Labor leader was swamped by volunteers and voters for photos and handshakes. He and Labor candidate Michelle Ananda-Rajah met a cavoodle called Bismarck wearing a Labor button, a black greyhound in a red jacket, and dozens of Labor supporters chanting “ALBO, ALBO”.

Albanese worked the queue of voters, picking out parents and kids to talk to. He high-fived a young girl whose mum said she was “voting for the future” on issues like climate change.

A Liberal Democrats volunteer greeted him at the gate, as he told her “good on you for participating in our democracy”. Liberal party volunteers brandishing signs for Higgins incumbent Katie Allen yelled “what’s the unemployment rate?”

Just as he left, a Liberal-shirted man ran across the road with a Bluetooth speaker, pumping the dance remix of the “hole in your bucket” song and dancing as Albanese’s car took off.

Albanese didn’t take in a democracy sausage though – maybe holding off until he gets back to Sydney later today, where he’s expected to vote.

Earlier, both Scott Morrison and Albanese revealed their sausage sandwich preferences on Today.

The Labor leader has been on a health kick and says he’s off bread, but “sometimes I have double sausage … you get more sausage than bread”. He added that he garnished his sausage with onions and BBQ sauce.

Morrison simply said he took his with tomato sauce.

Scott Morrison has changed his morning schedule at the last minute, and will no longer be visiting the key seat of Chisholm, in Melbourne’s east.

He is instead heading for his electorate of Cook, in Sydney’s south, where he will cast his vote this afternoon.

The Liberal’s Gladys Liu holds Chisholm by a sliver of votes, with the margin 0.5%. You can read more about the electorate in this great profile here.

I think these shots were only taken last election night? It’s been a rough three years, what with the pandemic and all.

Nick Evershed has done wonderful work this campaign. In the latest and possibly last instalment of his pork-o-meter reporting, he reveals that my beloved Victoria has been short-changed in election commitments.

The ALP will seek a federal court injunction this morning to authorise the removal of election signs posted in the key Victorian seat of Higgins, a campaign spokesperson has confirmed.

The signs, which resemble official Greens election material, urge voters to put Labor last – despite the Greens recommending a vote for the ALP ahead of the Coalition on how-to-vote cards across the country.

The Labor spokesperson said printed material with similar messaging had also been distributed in the marginal seat of McEwen and in Hawke. The injunction application will also relate to this material.

The Greens also spoke out about the signs last night, urging voters on Twitter not to “fall for the Libs’ desperate tricks”. It said the material had been reported to the Australian Electoral Commission and police.

The Liberals campaign has been contacted for comment.