Mayboone, Australia - Australians voted in the general election on Saturday by cost of living, economy, energy and China.

The supply of affordable housing is short and interest rates are still high, and the major political parties divide the country on how to wean the electricity generated by fossil fuels.

The major political parties also differ in how they deal with China.

Here is what you know about the main issues:

Australians have endured one of the most dramatic lives in recent history, and the current government has been in charge of the worst.

Prices of eggs soared 11% last year and beer rose 4% according to government data. Property analyst CoreLogic said average rents rose 4.8% last year in the average rent last year.

The central bank's benchmark interest rate rose from a record low of 0.1% to 0.35%, two weeks after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's centre-left Labor party came to power in the 2022 election.

This ratio has increased twelve times since then, with a peak of 4.35% in November 2023. The annual inflation rate for the year was 7.8%.

The central bank lowered inflation by a quarter percentage point in February, indicating that the worst of the cost of living crisis is over. The rate is expected to be lowered again at the next board meeting of banks on May 20 due to international economic uncertainty arising from tariffs by U.S. President Donald Trump.

Inflation has caused some builders to lose their business, exacerbating shortages of homes, which in turn has increased rents.

The government has provided tax cuts and aid for some rental and energy bills, but critics believe government spending helps maintain inflation.

Albanese has pledged to build 1.2 million homes through incentives over the five years starting in 2023, an ambitious goal of 27 million people. Early building approval data suggest his administration would miss the target.

Labour vowed to reduce deposits from 20% to 5% for the first time, while the government becomes the guarantor's difference.

The conservative opposition Liberal Party has pledged to reduce housing competition by reducing immigration. It also promises to allow Australians to spend money on their mandatory workplace pension funds, known as pensions, to buy a home.

The opposition also promised to deduct mortgage taxes.

Many economists believe that competitors’ policies will exaggerate housing prices and will hardly increase housing supply.

Both sides agreed to a goal: to reach zero emissions by 2050.

The Albanese government was elected in 2022 and promised to reduce Australia's greenhouse gas emissions by 43% by the end of the decade and net zero by 2050.

The opposition has pledged to build seven government-funded nuclear power plants in Australia, the first time it has provided electricity in 2035.

The government believes that existing coal and gas generators in Australia will not last long until nuclear power arrives. It plans to have 82% of the Australian energy grid powered by renewable energy by 2030.

The opposition believes that government policies are unavailable for renewable energy to replace coal and natural gas, which is unavailable, which will reduce investment in clean energy technologies.

The opposition will rely on more natural gas to generate electricity until atomic forces are established. It will not set new goals for 2030 before the election.

Trade and diplomatic relations between Australia and China fell into new depths in 2020 after the Australian government demanded an international investigation into the origins and responses of the COVID-19-19 pandemic.

Beijing has banned ministers from ties with Australia and has imposed a series of official and unofficial bans on commodities including coal, wine, barley, wood and lobster that have brought Australian exporters up to $20 billion ($13 billion) a year.

The melting began almost immediately with the Labor election in 2022.

All trade barriers are gradually lifted, and Albanes met with Xi Jinping during a state visit to Beijing in 2023.

Albanis often told China: “We will cooperate wherever we can, disagree where we must and participate in the national interests.”

Opposition leader Peter Dutton, a long-time critic of China, claims bilateral relations will be further improved through difficult and uncompromising methods. He accused Albanese of self-censoring to avoid crime.

"Australia must be willing to criticize any country that will endanger the stability of the region, and that's what my leadership is going to do with the like-minded countries," Dutton told the Loy Institute's International Policy Think Tank.