First votes in Australia poll are cast

The first ballots in Australia's general election were cast today by remote communites and others who cannot vote on 24 November.

Voting is compulsory in Australia, but large numbers of people have difficulty in physically getting to polling booths on election day.

To help alleviate the problem, the Australian Electoral Commission has set up 429 early voting centres, which will operate until 23 November, the day before polling day.

Polls were open in both urban and rural areas.

The ballots cast in those centres will be collected in special plastic bags and remain sealed until 6pm on voting day.

Voters can use the centres in a range of circumstances: if they will be overseas or out of their home state on election day, or more than 8km from a polling place.

Others who can vote early are those approaching childbirth, seriously ill or caring for someone who is, or unable to attend due to religious beliefs, disability or work commitments.

Voting for the blind and vision-impaired also got under way at 29 locations, with electronic machines introduced to do away with the need for a third party to help them cast their votes.

Each voter is given instructions through headphones and responses are made on a keypad, printed in code and placed in an envelope before being placed in a ballot box.

Howard expected to lose power

A series of opinion polls suggest the government will be ousted after nearly 12 years in power.

The latest poll, published today, showed Labor had gained two percentage points over the past week to extend its lead over Mr Howard's Liberal-National coalition to 55% against 45%.

The figures are consistent with a series of opinion polls taken over several months and would translate into a massive victory for Labor if repeated on election day.

The latest poll was taken just days after mortgage holders were hit with the sixth hike in interest rates since Mr Howard won the last election in 2004 with a promise to keep rates low.

Voting is compulsory for 13.6 million Australians aged over 18.