2025 Australian federal election
A federal election was held on 3 May 2025 to elect members of the 48th Parliament of Australia. All 150 seats in the House of Representatives were up for election, along with 40 of the 76 seats in the Senate. The Labor government of Anthony Albanese was elected for a second term in a landslide victory over the opposition Liberal–National Coalition, led by Peter Dutton. Labor secured 94 seats in the House of Representatives—the highest number of seats ever won by a single political party in an Australian election. Labor also received the highest two-party-preferred vote of any party since 1975—at 55.22%. This victory was much larger than expected from the opinion polling released shortly before the election, which had predicted a smaller Labor majority or a minority government.
The election marked the fourth time in Australian history that a government secured at least ninety House of Representatives seats, the first time this feat had been achieved by a Labor government, and the first time it had been achieved by a single party. The Labor Party's 94 seats was tied with the Coalition's result in 1996 for the most seats ever won by a party or coalition. The re-elected Labor government also became the first returning government to retain every one of its seats since Harold Holt's Coalition victory in 1966.
The pertinent issues throughout the campaign were the cost of living, energy policy, housing, healthcare and defence. Key promises from Labor were to build 1.2million new homes and legislate a 20% reduction in current tertiary student loan debt, while the Coalition campaigned on building seven nuclear power plants over 20 years and reducing the fuel excise by 25 cents per litre. Both the Liberal–National Coalition and the Labor party proposed increases in defence spending.
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation projected a second term for Labor within two and a half hours of east coast polls closing. Dutton conceded defeat shortly after 9:30pm AEST on election night, announcing that he had called Albanese to congratulate him on Labor's re-election. Labor increased its parliamentary majority by gaining seats from incumbents on both flanks of the political spectrum; taking seats from the Liberals and the Greens. The Coalition suffered a large swing against them, particularly in urban areas. The Liberal Party, the Coalition's senior party, suffered its worst federal result in terms of vote share and its second-worst in seats since its formation in 1944. Dutton also lost his seat of Dickson to Labor candidate Ali France, the first time a federal opposition leader had been defeated in their own seat. The Greens primary vote remained steady, though the party lost three of their four seats in the House of Representatives, including that of their leader Adam Bandt, who lost his seat of Melbourne to Labor.
In the Senate, Labor increased its share of seats to 28, while the Coalition fell to 27 seats, making Labor the largest bloc in the upper house for the first time since 1984. The Greens returned one senator from each state, leaving the party steady on 11. One Nation doubled its representation in the chamber to 4, winning seats in New South Wales and Western Australia, the first time the party won a seat outside Queensland in a half-Senate election. Jacqui Lambie and David Pocock were re-elected in Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory respectively. The size of the crossbench increased to 21, an increase of 3 since the 2022 election result. Prior to the new Senate's term commencing on 1 July, Greens senator Dorinda Cox defected from the party and joined the Labor Party, increasing Labor's voting bloc to 29 and decreasing the Greens seat count to 10.
Seventeen days after the election, the Nationals announced they would not renew their coalition agreement with the Liberals, ending the political partnership for the first time in 38 years. This left the Liberal Party as the sole official opposition party with a total of 28 seats with the Nationals taking 15 seats. The crossbench, including the Nationals, grew to 27 seats, the highest in modern Australian political history. The split, however, was short-lived; eight days after the announcement, the two parties reunited and formed a joint shadow ministry following policy agreements on nuclear power, a regional future fund, divestiture powers and regional telecommunications infrastructure.
Background
Previous election
At the previous election in May 2022, the Labor Party, led by Anthony Albanese, formed a government after nine years in opposition, winning 77 seats in the House of Representatives, enough for a two-seat majority. The Liberal–National Coalition that had previously governed won only 58 seats and went into opposition. The crossbench, made up of other parties and independents, expanded to 16 seats: ten held by independents, four by the Greens, and one each by the Centre Alliance and Katter's Australian Party.In the Senate, Labor made no gains and remained steady at 26 seats overall, thus requiring 13 additional votes in the Senate to pass legislation. The Coalition lost four seats and retained only 32 seats. The Greens gained three seats to 12. One Nation also remained steady with two seats, Centre Alliance and Rex Patrick Team each lost their Senate seats, while the Jacqui Lambie Network gained a second seat. David Pocock was elected as an independent senator on his own ticket, and the United Australia Party also gained one seat.
Composition of Parliament
The 47th Parliament opened on 26 July 2022. The Liberal Party entered the parliament with a new leader, with former defence and home affairs minister Peter Dutton replacing the outgoing prime minister Scott Morrison. On 23 December 2022, Nationals MP for Calare, Andrew Gee, left the party and became an independent, following the party's decision to campaign for "No" in the Australian Indigenous Voice referendum. This change of parties caused the crossbench to increase to 17 seats, with the Coalition decreasing to 57 seats.On 16 January 2023, Liberal senator Jim Molan died and was replaced by Maria Kovacic in May 2023. On 6 February 2023, Greens senator Lidia Thorpe resigned from the party to sit as an independent. On 1 April 2023, Labor's Mary Doyle won the 2023 Aston by-election following the resignation of sitting Liberal MP Alan Tudge. The result was considered a major upset and marked the first time that an incumbent government had won a seat from the Opposition since the 1920 Kalgoorlie by-election. As a result, Labor increased their number of seats in the House of Representatives to 78, while the Coalition was reduced to 56 seats. In May 2023, incumbent Liberal National MP Stuart Robert resigned, triggering another by-election, this time in the seat of Fadden on the Gold Coast. The seat was won by Liberal National candidate Cameron Caldwell, keeping the composition of the parliament unchanged. Also in May 2023, Dai Le, the independent member for the seat of Fowler in Western Sydney, formed her own political party, the Dai Le and Frank Carbone Network, alongside Frank Carbone, the mayor of Fairfield. The party would be primarily based in Western Sydney.
On 15 June 2023, Liberal senator David Van was expelled from the party following sexual misconduct allegations by former LNP senator Amanda Stoker and independent senator Lidia Thorpe. He continued his term as an independent. On 14 November 2023, following a party preselection defeat, Liberal MP Russell Broadbent left the party to sit on the crossbench. November also saw Dave Sharma return to parliament, this time as a Liberal senator, after the resignation of party veteran Marise Payne. On 4 December 2023, Labor MP Peta Murphy died of cancer, reducing Labor to 77 seats, though the party's share was restored to 78 seats on 2 March 2024, when candidate Jodie Belyea retained the seat of Dunkley at the by-election. Similarly the Liberal Party's numbers were reduced when on 28 February 2024 when former prime minister Scott Morrison resigned as the member for Cook. Liberal candidate Simon Kennedy retained the seat for the party at the 2024 Cook by-election.
Labor senator Pat Dodson resigned from the Senate in January 2024 while undergoing cancer treatment. His vacancy was filled by Varun Ghosh. Labor senator Linda White died in March 2024 and was replaced by Lisa Darmanin, while Greens senator Janet Rice resigned the following month and was replaced by Steph Hodgins-May. Party-compositional changes occurred when Tasmanian senator Tammy Tyrrell quit the Jacqui Lambie Network to sit as an independent on 28 March 2024 and Labor senator Fatima Payman left the party and joined the crossbench as an independent in July 2024, citing disagreement with the party's position concerning the Israel–Gaza conflict. Three months later, Payman established the Australia's Voice party, stating that she intended for the party to field candidates in both houses of parliament at this election. The Senate composition changed once again on 25 August 2024 when LNP senator Gerard Rennick resigned from the party and moved to the crossbench to sit as an independent following a preselection defeat. Like Payman, he announced his intention to establish a political party, named the Gerard Rennick People First, so that his name would be featured above the line on the election ballot. On 31 December, the Liberal member for Moore, Ian Goodenough, left the Liberal party to stand as an independent following preselection loss.
On 28 January 2025, Liberal senator Simon Birmingham resigned from Parliament. The following week, on 6 February 2025, Leah Blyth was appointed to the Senate as his replacement. Two lower house seats were made vacant prior to the election; Liberal National MP Keith Pitt, who sat in the Nationals party room, resigned as the member for Hinkler on 19 January 2025, and the following day Labor MP Bill Shorten resigned as the member for Maribyrnong. With their resignations occurring close to the federal election, by-elections were not held.