Australians vote to elect PM in climate-dominated election
Melbourne: Australians on Saturday voted to elect their next parliament and prime minister, in what has been widely referred to as the climate-change election, with the first exit poll showing a victory for the opposition Labor Party.
After five weeks long election campaigning across the country, around 16 million Australians swarmed to the polling booths across the country to elect the nation's prime minister.
A Nine-Galaxy poll released shortly before the voting stations closed in the east of the country showed a victory for the centre-left Labor party and Liberal Party-led coalition losing its bid for a third three-year term.
The poll showed the Labor winning as many as 82 seats in the 151-member House of Representatives, beating the governing Liberal coalition.
To win a majority in the House of Representatives, either major party will need 77 seats. The Coalition currently holds 73 seats, while Labor has 72.
Some 16.5 million Australians were enrolled to vote on Saturday, with more than 4.7 million having already cast ballots in early voting by Friday.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison cast his vote at Lilli Pilli Public School in Sydney while Labor party leader Bill Shorten cast his vote in Melbourne.
Morrison said this federal election was a choice about who you want to continue to be the Prime Minister of this country, myself or Bill Shorten .
Tonight the votes will be counted and we will see what the outcome is. I make no assumptions about tonight. I respect this process. It is dear to my heart, the democracy of our country. I don't take anyone's support in this country for granted, Morrison said.
Shorten after casting his vote said, "Today, vote for change, vote for real change, and vote for Labor. Vote to stop the chaos. Today, vote to stop the cuts to schools and hospitals. For a better childcare system for families. Vote to tackle climate change. Vote Labor.
Hitting out on climate change, Shorten said it wasn't the Aussie way to be missing from the big fights. We will convene the parliament as soon as possible to start action on climate change."
Anger over the government's inaction on climate change may prove the real difference between the two parties.
Australia has experienced some of the worst effects of climate change in recent few years, from deadly bush fires to the destruction of natural wonders like the Great Barrier Reef.
Concern about climate change is now at a 10-year high among Australians, with 64 per cent believing it should be a top priority for the government, according to an Ipsos poll released in April.
The Labor party is promising to cut Australia's carbon emissions by 45 per cent on 2005 levels, compared to the government's minimum pledge of 26 per cent.
Meanwhile, Labor lodged an official complaint against Liberal for allegedly using Australian Election Commission (AEC) colours and telling voters to use their first choice in front of a Liberal candidate in Melbourne seat of Chisholm.
However, AEC responded that the signs were not a breach of electoral rules because they appeared to be properly authorised and there is nothing in the Electoral Act regarding use of colour.
The poll comes just two days after the death of Bob Hawke, a long-serving former prime minister whose achievements have been hailed across the political spectrum.
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Israel launches first airstrike on Lebanon since ceasefire, accusing Hezbollah of breaching truce
Beirut, Nov 28: The Israeli military on Thursday said its warplanes fired on southern Lebanon after detecting Hezbollah activity at a rocket storage facility, the first Israeli airstrike a day after a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah took hold.
There was no immediate word on casualties from Israel's aerial attack, which came hours after the Israeli military said it fired on people trying to return to certain areas in southern Lebanon. Israel said they were violating the ceasefire agreement, without providing details. Lebanon's state-run National News Agency said two people were wounded.
The back-to-back incidents stirred unease about the agreement, brokered by the United States and France, which includes an initial two-month ceasefire in which Hezbollah members are to withdraw north of the Litani River and Israeli forces are to return to their side of the border. The buffer zone would be patrolled by Lebanese troops and UN peacekeepers.
On Thursday, the second day of a ceasefire after more than a year of bloody conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, Lebanon's state news agency reported that Israeli fire targeted civilians in Markaba, close to the border, without providing further details. Israel said it fired artillery in three other locations near the border. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
An Associated Press reporter in northern Israel near the border heard Israeli drones buzzing overhead and the sound of artillery strikes from the Lebanese side.
The Israeli military said in a statement that “several suspects were identified arriving with vehicles to a number of areas in southern Lebanon, breaching the conditions of the ceasefire.” It said troops “opened fire toward them” and would “actively enforce violations of the ceasefire agreement.”
Israeli officials have said forces will be withdrawn gradually as it ensures that the agreement is being enforced. Israel has warned people not to return to areas where troops are deployed, and says it reserves the right to strike Hezbollah if it violates the terms of the truce.
A Lebanese military official said Lebanese troops would gradually deploy in the south as Israeli troops withdraw. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief media.
The ceasefire agreement announced late Tuesday ended 14 months of conflict between Israel and Hezbollah that began a day after Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023 attack out of Gaza, when the Lebanese Hezbollah group began firing rockets, drones and missiles in solidarity.
Israel retaliated with airstrikes, and the conflict steadily intensified for nearly a year before boiling over into all-out war in mid-September. The war in Gaza is still raging with no end in sight.
More than 3,760 people were killed by Israeli fire in Lebanon during the conflict, many of them civilians, according to Lebanese health officials. The fighting killed more than 70 people in Israel — over half of them civilians — as well as dozens of Israeli soldiers fighting in southern Lebanon.
Some 1.2 million people were displaced in Lebanon, and thousands began streaming back to their homes on Wednesday despite warnings from the Lebanese military and the Israeli army to stay out of certain areas. Some 50,000 people were displaced on the Israeli side, but few have returned and the communities near the northern border are still largely deserted.
In Menara, an Israeli community on the border with views into Lebanon, around three quarters of homes are damaged, some with collapsed roofs and burnt-out interiors. A few residents could be seen gathering their belongings on Thursday before leaving again.
