Australia goes to the polls on 7 September. The key battleground is the sprawling suburbs of West Sydney, which contain 10% of Australia’s population and a number of marginal seats.
I spent Saturday there to get a feel for the campaign on the ground. You quickly pick up the electoral buzz from the campaign posters sprouting all over the area.
I visited Rooty Hill RSL (Returned Services League) which earlier in the week had hosted the final of three televised debates between Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Opposition Leader Tony Abbott.
Travelling around a number of constituencies I met candidates and election workers from both main parties. I sat in on a meeting with African community leaders and visited a campaign phone-bank where dozens of volunteers were calling undecided voters.
Both Labor and the Liberals are quite similar to their British Labour and Conservative counterparts, and have strong ties with them. But the electoral system here means that there are some significant differences in the campaign strategy.
Australia has compulsory voting, so unlike the UK you don’t have to focus on making sure your supporters turn up to vote. And the transferable vote system makes the voting process much more complicated, particularly in the Senate where the many competing parties make complex deals on the order in which their preferences will transfer.
As often happens in the UK, the biggest issue in the campaign seems to be the economy. Whichever party wins, they will have to tackle public spending challenges as the mining boom slows. The final few days of the campaign promise to be exciting.