Polling stations have opened throughout Australia on Saturday, in elections that are likely to deliver the nation's sixth prime minister in as many years.

Iran Press/Asia: Opinion polls suggest the conservative Liberal Party-led coalition will lose its bid for a third three-year term and Scott Morrison will have had one of the shortest tenures as prime minister in the 118-year history of the Australian federation, according to The Independent.

Morrison is the conservatives' third prime minister since they were first elected in 2013. He replaced Malcolm Turnbull in a leadership ballot of government colleagues in August.

The centre-left Labor Party opposition under its leader Bill Shorten has been campaigning hard on more ambitious targets to reduce Australia's greenhouse gas emissions.

Australia is the world's largest exporter of coal and liquid natural gas. It is also one of the world's worst carbon gas polluters per capita because of a heavy reliance on coal-fired electricity.

As the driest continent after Antarctica, it is also particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, such as wildfires and destructive storms.

The government has committed Australia to reduce its carbon emissions by 26 percent to 28 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030.

Labor has promised a 45 per cent reduction in the same time frame.

Bill Shorten, a 52-year-old former union leader, has also promised a range of reforms, including the government paying all the patients' costs for cancer treatment and a reduction of tax breaks for landlords.   101/211

Read More:

Scott Morrison wins as the new Australian PM