48th Parliament of Australia


The 48th Parliament of Australia is the current meeting of the legislative branch of the Commonwealth of Australia, composed of the Australian Senate and the Australian House of Representatives. The 48th parliament was opened on 22 July 2025, following the federal election which was held on 3 May 2025. The [Australian Australian Labor Party|Labor Party|Labor] government, led by Anthony Albanese, Australia's 31st prime minister, was reelected with an increased 18-seat majority, holding 94 out of the 150 seats in the lower house.

Events of the 48th Parliament

Prior to sitting

The 2025 Australian federal election, held on 3 May, resulted in a historic landslide victory for the Australian Labor Party under Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. Labor secured 94 seats in the House of Representatives, growing their parliamentary majority and achieving the largest number of seats won by the party at the federal level in its history. The result exceeded almost all published opinion polling, which had predicted either a smaller majority for the Labor government or a hung parliament. It was the fourth time in history that a party or coalition secured 90 or more seats in a federal election—the last instance being in 2013. It also marked the first time a single party, and specifically the Labor Party, achieved this feat and this was also the equal largest number of seats won by a party or coalition in Australian electoral history exceeding the 1975 election result and equalling the 1996 result.
The Coalition suffered significant losses, including the seat of Dickson, held by then-Opposition Leader Peter Dutton, who was unseated by Labor's Ali France.
A particularly notable outcome was the dramatic decline of the Australian Greens in the lower house. The party lost three of its four seats, including the long-held seat of Melbourne, where Greens leader Adam Bandt was defeated by Labor's Sarah Witty, ending his 15-year tenure in Parliament. The Greens' only remaining seat in the House of Representatives was Ryan in Queensland, held by Elizabeth Watson-Brown. Some prominent commentary attributed the Greens' losses to their policy positions, particularly regarding the Israel-Gaza conflict, and a perceived shift away from core environmental issues, leading to voter alienation in key electorates. Other commentary instead explained the dramatic fall in seat count as primarily due to the way small shifts in vote counts can lead to large shifts in margins and seat counts under Australia's preferential voting system, also a factor in the Greens' sudden jump from 1 to 4 seats in 2022.
Another significant development in the 2025 election was the re-emergence of Clive Palmer with a new political party, the Trumpet of Patriots. After the High Court blocked the re-registration of his previous party, the United Australia Party, Palmer joined the Trumpet of Patriots in February 2025, which was modelled after Trumpism. The party's campaign featured slogans like "Make Australia Great Again" and policies opposing immigration and gender diversity initiatives. Despite spending approximately $60 million on a nationwide advertising blitz, including over $6 million on YouTube and Meta platforms, and sending over 17 million unsolicited text messages, the party failed to secure any seats in Parliament, garnering only 1.85% of the national vote. Following this defeat, Palmer announced his retirement from politics.
Nationals senator Matt Canavan challenged incumbent leader David Littleproud in a leadership spill. Littleproud was re-elected as party leader on 12 May.
On 13 May 2025, the Liberals elected their new leader in a leadership election. Following the federal election but prior to the leadership election, Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price defected from the Nationals party room to the Liberal party room to stand in the election for the position of Deputy Leader. Sussan Ley was subsequently elected leader, narrowly defeating Angus Taylor, with Ted O'Brien being elected as her deputy. Ley is the first woman elected to lead the Liberals, the Coalition, or serve as the Leader of the Opposition at the federal level in Australia. At 63, Ley is also the oldest first-time Leader of the Opposition since Arthur Calwell in 1960.
The Greens held a leadership election on 15 May 2025 and elected Queensland senator Larissa Waters as their leader.
On 20 May 2025, Littleproud announced the breakup of the Coalition, citing irreconcilable policy disagreements around nuclear energy amongst other topics.
On 28 May 2025, Sussan Ley and David Littleproud announced that a new deal had been reached to reunify the Liberal–National Coalition after the Liberal Party agreed on an 'in principle' basis to support the four policy demands from the Nationals Party – removing the moratorium on nuclear energy, supermarket divestiture powers, regional phone coverage, and a regional future fund. The Coalition's shadow cabinet, consisting of 14 Liberals and 6 Nationals, was announced later that afternoon.
On 2 June 2025, Western Australian senator Dorinda Cox announced that she had defected from the Greens to the ALP. This brought Labor up to 29 senators, allowing them to pass legislation with either the Coalition or the Greens. Alternatively, Labor can pass legislation through the Senate with the support of all ten of the other crossbench senators; the four One Nation senators, Ralph Babet, Jacqui Lambie, Fatima Payman, David Pocock, Lidia Thorpe, and Tammy Tyrrell, but this is considered unlikely due to their highly divergent political views.

Sitting

The parliament was opened by Governor General Sam Mostyn on 22 July 2025.

Major legislation

Assented

  • 2 August, 2025:, Act No. 30
  • 2 August, 2025:, Act No. 31
  • 28 August, 2025:, Act No. 35
  • 10 November, 2025:, Act No. 61
  • 4 December, 2025:, Act No. 71

Demographics

Women reached 50% representation across both chambers. Indigenous representation also increased, with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people accounting for 4.0% of federal parliamentarians. According to a 2023 Parliamentary Library analysis, 3.5% of members identified as LGBTIQ+.

Membership

Senate

40 of the 76 seats in the upper house were contested in the election in May 2025. The class of senators elected in 2025 are denoted with an asterisk.

House of Representatives

All 150 seats in the lower house were contested in the election in May 2025.

Changes in membership

Senate

This table lists senators who have resigned, died, been elected or appointed, or otherwise changed their party affiliation during the 48th Parliament.


House of Representatives


This table lists members of the House who have resigned, died, been elected or appointed, or otherwise changed their party affiliation during the 48th Parliament.