Australian minister dismisses negative election polls

Lisa Maree Williams | Getty Images News | Getty Images

Australia's foreign minister dismissed opinion polls showing his party looked set to lose national elections on Saturday.

"I'm not going to argue about the polls when the election's on within hours. Speculation about the polls and the election is a waste of time now," Bob Carr told CNBC on Friday. The latest polls showed the ruling Labor party trailing the opposition Liberal-National coalition, with 47 percent of the vote to the coalition's 53 percent.

"They're about to go to vote, we've got to leave it to the Australian people," he told CNBC on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Russia.

(Read more: Australia's closely-fought elections: What's at stake)

Carr called for the global leaders present to commit to a jobs and growth agenda which would support Australia's economy. The G20 comprises 19 of the world's most economically influential countries, plus the European Union.

"Jobs and growth are Australia's priorities, [and] seeing that other economies not constricting their growth opportunities by focusing on fiscal consolidation at the risk of unemployment for their populations. Jobs growth creates greater demand."

(Read more: What Bust? Australia Set for Huge Boom, Report Says)

While the scrapping of the carbon and mining sector taxes and cutting the corporate tax rate are key to the opposition coalition's plans for the Australian economy, the Labor party under recently returned leader Kevin Rudd is pledging more funding for infrastructure and maintaining its price on carbon.

Carr defended the Labor party's economic record over its six years in power, claiming that Australia was "the envy of the world when it comes to economic performance."

"Just about every country here would trade its position for Australia's position when it comes to debt levels. Australia's position is very, very strong," he said. "Our economy shines in contrast [to others] struggling as they with the spillover of 2008-2009. We want to get that strong commitment [to jobs and growth] because Australia needs a growing world economy."

(Read more: Slowdown not stopping Australia's millionaire factory)

Australia has suffered a slowdown as demand for its resources from surrounding emerging markets – and particularly from China – has declined. Its economy is still forecast to grow by 3.1 percent in 2014, according to the International Monetary Fund, though the organisation recently revised down its forecasts from a previous expectation of 3.3 percent.