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Where to vote and your other election questions answered

By 6pm Saturday, Australians need to have voted in the federal election, or else face a fine.

More than 17 million people are registered to vote in Australia, close to 97 per cent of eligible Australians.

So the question is, where do you vote?

READ MORE: How to vote in this year's election

Where do I vote on election day?

The Australian Electoral Commission has a handy website advising you on where and when you can vote.

You can access it by clicking here.

If you type in your suburb name or postcode, it will provide a list of polling stations in your electorate.

The list is alphabetical, which means you will probably need to scroll down to find the polling station closest to you.

READ MORE: How COVID-19 could impact the election

Scott Morrison said many people who officially died of COVID-19 probably died of something else - something doctors dispute.

There are usually a few polling stations in every suburb, which means going to vote on election day is unlikely to be much of a hike.

If you want to just wing it, you can walk over to the nearest school, town hall or church.

There's a pretty good chance you'll be able to vote there and grab a democracy sausage too.

How do I know which electorate I'm in?

Just because a polling station is close to you doesn't mean it is in your electorate.

Electorates have to have borders somewhere, which means your neighbour across the street may not have the same ballot as you.

But if you rock up to your nearest polling place, they'll likely have a box for your electorate.

If you type in your suburb or postcode at this link, it will tell you what electorate you are in.

READ MORE: Your guide to the key seats that could decide the election

Locals run the gauntlet of election posters in the Sydney seat of Wentworth.

Where can I vote early?

Most election day voting stations are not open for early voting this week.

Fewer locations are available for early voting, which means you should check rather than rock up to your local primary school and accidentally wander into the hall in the middle of assembly.

But the same link to the AEC will advise you where to go. You simply click the "Before Election Day" button.

READ MORE: How do I vote if I have COVID-19?

Early voting has begun in Australia's federal election.

When can I vote on election day?

Polling places open on Saturday at 8am and close at 6pm sharp.

If you are already in the queue to vote, you will be able to cast a ballot.

But if you arrive at 6.01pm, you will likely be turned away.

READ MORE: How is the Australian government elected?

How do I vote?

When you go to vote, you will be handed two ballots – a little green one and a ginormous white one.

The green ballot is for the House of Representatives.

This ballot determines which party will form government and choose the Prime Minister.

You need to number every box, with a one by your favourite candidate, a two by your second favourite, and so on. The person you least want to win should have the highest number of the ballot.

A Bondi lifesaver considers the many options on the Senate ballot last federal election.

If you don't number every box, your ballot is invalid and won't be counted.

The big white ballot is for the Senate. 

You need to make six choices above the line or 12 choices below the line.

EXPLAINED: What is a hung parliament?

Do I have to vote?

Australia has a compulsory voting system, which means if you are registered to vote, you need to show up and have your name crossed off.

If you don't, you will get a $20 fine.

It is also your right to file an invalid ballot.

EXPLAINED: What are 'preference deals' and how do they influence my vote?

Who should I vote for?

That's not for us to say. But as an Australian voter, you can vote for whoever you like.

Nobody has the right to know who you vote for. Under our democratic rules, known internationally as the Australian ballot, you fill in your ballot in a private booth, and put it in a box without anyone seeing.

If anyone pressures you to reveal who you voted for, or tries to intimidate you into voting one way or another, you are entitled to report them to police.

Outside the polling station, volunteers will try and hand you "how-to-vote" cards.

You don't have to take them, and if you do, you don't have to take their advice.

How-to-vote cards are handed out outside a polling station.

What are the major parties?

Australia is mistakenly thought of as a two-party democracy, but that is incorrect. There are dozens of registered parties across the country, all with their own policy platforms.

Scott Morrison is the leader of the Liberal Party, who form government at present in coalition with the National Party.

The Liberal Party is a centre-right party, as is the National Party. The Nationals tend to represent rural and regional electorates.

Anthony Albanese is the leader of the Labor Party, which is the main opposition party. They are a centre-left party.

But there are other parties on most ballots. The Greens are further left than Labor. One Nation is further right than the Liberals.

There are also parties with similar names to the major parties. The Liberal Democrats are a libertarian-leaning party but are unaffiliated with the Liberals.

The Democratic Labour Party split from Labor in 1955, and now has a very different policy platform.

The order the parties appear on the ballot is randomised. Just because a particular party is in the top spot doesn't mean anything.

headline

Depp lawyers point to Amber Heard's drug use during trial

Amber Heard faced questions from Johnny Depp's lawyers in her fourth day of testimony in the defamation trial between the former couple.

Depp has accused Heard of defaming him in a 2018 op-ed for the Washington Post.

In the piece, which was published roughly two years after they divorced, Heard described herself as a "public figure representing domestic abuse".

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Amber Heard

Though Depp was not named in the article, he claims it cost him lucrative acting roles.

Heard has filed a counterclaim for $142 million (US$100 million).

After testifying that Depp's drug and alcohol use would turn him into a "monster" who would be violent with her, an attorney for Depp pointedly questioned Heard about her own drug use, including scheduling time for "drugs" at the couple's 2015 wedding.

"Who was the real monster in this relationship, Ms Heard?" asked Depp's attorney Camille Vasquez today.

"It's half of Johnny. It's not all of Johnny. The other half of him is wonderful and beautiful and the man I loved," Heard testified.

On the witness stand, Heard described her former relationship with Depp as both violent and romantic, stating his alleged violence toward her correlated with his drug and alcohol use.

"It was always the man who did drugs and beat me up. Yes, that's always been the monster," Heard testified.

Depp has previously testified that he has never "struck any woman" in his life.

Johnny Depp

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Vasquez pointed to Heard's own drug use, introducing a typed schedule for Depp and Heard's wedding celebration on the actor's private island in the Bahamas, which included time for "dance party and drugs and music" after a rehearsal dinner.

"So, you planned to have drugs at your wedding to someone you characterize as a drug addict?" Vasquez said.

"To be fair, we were going to have separate parties," Heard said. "This is a draft clearly that was sent before there were a lot of changes made."

Amber Heard

Messages between Heard and Depp

Vasquez also played recordings of Heard and Depp arguing, read excerpts of a "love journal" Heard filled with messages to Depp, and read texts between the former couple.

In one journal entry from April 2016, Heard wrote, "I am sorry I can get crazy. I am sorry I hurt you. None of this is meant to be an excuse for hurting you because the truth is nothing is. There is never a reason good enough to hurt you."

Heard wrote in a March 2015 text to a physician, "I don't know if I'll ever be able to change."

Heard testified she was referring to the former couple's relationship.

"I very much wanted to leave the relationship I was in. But I didn't feel I had the power to leave," Heard testified.

"I knew I was in a very toxic relationship with Johnny and I knew I needed to change that."

READ MORE: The list Scott Morrison would rather wasn't read on TV

Judge Penney Azcarate

Heard's 2009 arrest

Heard was asked about her arrest in 2009 related to an alleged domestic assault with a previous partner, for which she was ultimately not charged.

Heard denied that she assaulted the woman, her former partner, at the Seattle Tacoma Airport in 2009, an incident that was widely reported shortly after Heard received a restraining order against Depp in 2016.

"So Mr Depp is not the only domestic partner you've assaulted is he, Ms Heard?" asked Vasquez.

"I've never assaulted Mr Depp or anyone else that I've been romantically linked to. Ever," Heard replied.

Heard alleged stories about the arrest were planted by Depp's public relations team at the time, calling it a "smear campaign."

Perry Cooper, a spokesman for the Port of Seattle, confirmed to CNN that Heard was arrested at the Seattle Tacoma Airport on Sept. 14, 2009 on an assault in the 4th degree domestic violence charge, but that the prosecuting attorney's office declined to file charges against Heard in the case.

Cooper said a request to delete the record of Heard's arrest was granted.

CNN also submitted a Freedom of Information Law request for the arrest, but was told by the Port of Seattle Police public records office that it had "no responsive documents for Amber Heard."

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Amber Heard

FULL COVERAGE: Federal Election 2022

CNN has reached out to the person Heard was accused of assaulting. A spokesperson for Heard had no comment.

"The King County Prosecuting Attorney's Office did not receive a full report beyond the first appearance information, however from the initial information sent to us from police it did not appear that there was evidence to prove a misdemeanor domestic violence case beyond a reasonable doubt," Casey McNerthney, a spokesperson for the King County prosecuting attorney told CNN in a statement today.

"This does not appear to be a question of the police work, rather not having the evidence to prove a case beyond a reasonable doubt."

Under re-direct examination, Heard's attorney Elaine Bredehoft asked Heard if the woman she allegedly assaulted had said the allegation was false.

Heard responded, "of course she did".

With those questions, Heard ended her time on the stand.

The trial will resume testimony from additional witnesses tomorrow.