What are the major issues in Australia’s election Saturday?

MEBOURNE Australia AP Australians vote Saturday in general elections being dominated by the soaring cost of living the financial system capacity and China Affordable housing is in short supply interest rates remain high and the major political parties are starkly divided on how to wean the nation off fossil fuel-generated electricity The major parties also differ on how to deal with China which is both Australia s largest trading partner and its greatest strategic threat Here s what to know about the main issues Surging inflation Australians have endured one of the sharpest rises in the cost of living in up-to-date history and the current governing body has been at the helm through the worst of it Prices of eggs surged last year and beer rose according to regime figures Average rents rose last year after a spike in property analyst CoreLogic commented The central bank s benchmark interest rate rose from a record low to two weeks before Prime Minister Anthony Albanese s center-left Labor Party came to power in s elections The rate has been raised a dozen times since then peaking at in November Annual inflation peaked that year at The central bank reduced the inflation rate by a quarter percentage point in February to in an indication that the worst of the cost of living predicament had passed The rate is widely expected to be cut again at the bank s next board meeting on May due to international economic uncertainty generated by U S President Donald Trump s tariffs policies Scarce and expensive housing Inflation has put chosen builders out of business exacerbating a shortage of housing which in turn has inflated rents The administration has provided tax cuts and assistance for particular rent and potential bills but critics argue administration spending has contributed to maintaining elevated inflation Albanese promised in to build million homes through incentives over five years starting in the middle of last year an ambitious target in a country of million people Early building approval figures suggest his establishment would miss that target Labor has vowed to reduce the deposit first time home buyers will be required to pay from to with the establishment becoming guarantor for the difference The conservative opposition Liberal Party has promised to reduce competition for housing by reducing immigration It s also promised to allow Australians to spend money held in their compulsory workplace pension funds known as superannuation on down payments to buy a home The opposition has also pledged to make mortgage interest payments tax deductible for multiple first home buyers Countless economists argue the rival policies would both inflate home prices while achieving little to increase the supply of housing Different paths to net zero Both parties agree on one goal to achieve net zero emissions by Albanese s regime was elected in with a promise to reduce Australia s greenhouse gas emissions by below levels by the end of the decade and achieve net zero by The opposition has promised to build seven government-funded nuclear power plants across Australia the first providing electricity in The cabinet argues Australia s existing coal and gas-fired generators won t last long enough to meet the nation s requirements until nuclear power arrives It plans to have of Australia s force grid powered by renewables by The opposition argues the establishment s strategy of replacing coal and gas with renewable ability sources including wind turbines and solar cells is unachievable and would reduce financing in clean power technologies The opposition would rely on more gas to generate electricity until atomic power was established It would not set a new target for before the electoral process Ties with China Pact and diplomatic relations between Australia and China plunged to new depths in after the previous conservative Australian administration demanded an international inquiry into the origins of and responses to the COVID- pandemic Beijing barred minister-to-minister contacts with Australia and imposed a series of official and unofficial bans on commodities including coal wine barley wood and lobsters that cost Australian exporters up to billion Australian dollars billion a year The thaw started almost right now with the electoral contest of the Labor Party in Chinese Premier Li Keqiang wrote to congratulate Albanese on his referendum win within days All the contract obstacles were gradually lifted and Albanese met President Xi Jinping during a state visit to Beijing in Albanese often says about China We will cooperate where we can disagree where we must and engage in the national interest Opposition leader Peter Dutton a longtime critic of China has claimed that bilateral relations would improve even further with a tough and uncompromising approach He has accused Albanese of self-censorship to avoid offending Beijing Australia must be willing to criticize any nation whose behavior imperils stability in the region and that s what a coalition regime I lead will do confidently and in concert with like-minded countries Dutton described the Lowy Institute international strategy think tank in Sydney in March Source