Albanese government
The Albanese government is the sitting federal government of Australia, led by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese of the Labor Party. The Albanese government was sworn in on 23 May 2022 by the governor-general of Australia, David Hurley. The party governed with a two-to-three seat majority in the House of Representatives in its first term, and expanded its majority to 19 seats in its second term. It won a plurality of seats in the Senate at the 2025 election, though has never held a majority of seats in the upper house.
Albanese succeeded the Morrison government after the Liberal–National Coalition was defeated at the 2022 election, and saw the first Labor government to be elected at the federal level since the Rudd government was defeated at the 2013 election. The Albanese government went on win a landslide victory in the 2025 federal election, making Albanese the first Prime Minister to serve a full term and win another since John Howard's victory at the 2004 election.
Background
2022 federal election
The 2022 election was called by Morrison on 10 April 2022, when he visited the Governor-General advising the latter to prorogue Parliament and dissolve the House of Representatives. The Governor-General accepted Morrison's recommendations, as is the custom in Australia's Westminster system of government. The Parliament was then prorogued and the House of Representatives dissolved the next morning. The Labor election campaign focused on aged care in Australia, the introduction of a National Anti-Corruption Commission, childcare subsidies, climate change, a similar defence budget to the Coalition but with a Defence Posture Review into resources and strategy, education, electric vehicles, farming, health, housing, infrastructure, a review of the National Disability Insurance Scheme, as well as measures to help older Australians.The election was held on 21 May 2022. As of 10:00PM AEST on election night, the Labor Party was projected to form a government by ABC News, although it was not clear whether they would have a majority or a minority. Notable outcomes included the popularity of community independents in several inner-city seats, costing Treasurer and Deputy Liberal Leader Josh Frydenberg his seat; a particularly sizable swing from the Coalition to Labor in Western Australia; and notably strong support for the Australian Greens in some inner-city Brisbane seats. After the bulk of the votes had been counted and a Labor victory appeared inevitable, Morrison conceded the election, and then announced his intention to resign as the Liberal Party leader. The Coalition's loss was attributed to Morrison's unpopularity with voters and the popularity of centrist "teal independents" in certain inner-city electorates. Albanese, who also made history as the first Italian-Australian to secure the position of Prime Minister, was sworn in as the new Prime Minister of Australia on 23 May 2022.
2023 by-election
On 9 February 2023, former Liberal Party cabinet minister Alan Tudge resigned from Parliament, triggering a by-election in his seat of Aston. In an unexpected result, Labor's Mary Doyle won the by-election, marking the first time a governing party won a by-election against the opposition since 1920. As a result of this, Albanese's government increased their majority in the House of Representatives to 78 of 151 seats.Appointments
Interim Ministry (May 2022)
Although it was not certain on election night that Labor would win a majority, no other party could realistically form a government. Accordingly, two days after the election, Albanese, deputy leader Richard Marles, shadow treasurer Jim Chalmers, and senators Penny Wong and Katy Gallagher were sworn in as an interim five-person ministry. The five ministers divided all portfolios between them until the full ministry was determined. According to Australia's ABC News, the governor-general David Hurley would not have sworn in Albanese without assurances that Labor could provide stable government, as well as legal advice that this was the proper course of action. Albanese confirmed that he secured confidence and supply from the crossbench in the event that he was not able to form majority government.Full Ministry (June 2022 onwards)
Albanese announced the composition of his full first ministry on 31 May 2022. Given that frontbenchers Kristina Keneally and Terri Butler were not re-elected, Murray Watt and Clare O’Neil were chosen by the Labor caucus to replace them in the cabinet. With 19 female frontbenchers and 10 female cabinet ministers, it became the most gender-equal ministry in Australian history. The full ministry was sworn in by Governor-General David Hurley on 1 June 2022.Albanese announced a reshuffle of his Ministry on 28 July 2024 due to the impending retirements of Linda Burney and Brendan O'Connor. Senator Malarndirri McCarthy succeeded Burney as the Minister for Indigenous affairs while Andrew Giles assumed the Skills and Training portfolio. Clare O'Neil also assumed the housing portfolio.
Following the 2025 Australian federal election held on 3 May 2025, a cabinet reshuffle occurred in mid-May. While Albanese, Richard Marles, Jim Chalmers, Katy Gallagher, Penny Wong and Don Farrell's portfolios remained unchanged in the Second Albanese ministry, Michelle Rowland was appointed as Attorney-General, Tim Ayres was appointed as Minister for Industry and Innovation, Anika Wells as Minister for Communications and Sport, Amanda Rishworth as Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations and Anne Aly as Minister for Small Business. In addition, Daniel Mulino was appointed as Assistant Treasurer, Jess Walsh as Minister for Early Childhood Education, Andrew Charlton as Cabinet Secretary, Jenny McAllister as Minister for NDIS, Tanya Plibersek as Minister for Social Services, Murray Watt as Minister for the Environment and Water and Sam Rae as Minister for Aged Care and Seniors.
Public service
, the Secretary of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet under Scott Morrison, took leave the day before the Albanese government was sworn in. This had been expected given Albanese had indicated he would not want Gaetjens to continue in the role. On 6 June 2022, former University of Melbourne vice-chancellor Glyn Davis replaced Gaetjens. In June 2024, the government announced that Matt Kean, a former Liberal Treasurer of New South Wales, would be appointed to lead the Climate Change Authority.Judiciary
On 17 October 2022, the government appointed Jayne Jagot as a Justice of the High Court of Australia, replacing the retiring Justice Patrick Keane. On Jagot's appointment, the High Court of Australia had a majority of female Justices for the first time in its history. On 6 November 2023, the government appointed Robert Beech-Jones as a High Court Justice. Beech-Jones replaced Stephen Gageler, who was made the Chief Justice of Australia upon the retirement of Susan Kiefel. These appointments ended the brief female majority on the court.Ambassadorships
On 30 September 2022, the government announced that it had nominated former Defence Minister Stephen Smith as the next High Commissioner of Australia to the United Kingdom. Smith commenced his position in January 2023. On 20 December 2022, the government announced that it had nominated former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd as the next Ambassador of Australia to the United States. Rudd commenced his position in March 2023.Governor-General
On 3 April 2024, the Prime Minister announced that King Charles III had approved Albanese's appointment of Sam Mostyn to succeed General David Hurley as Governor-General of Australia. Mostyn commenced her position on 1 July 2024.Government officials
In July 2024, owing to the rise in antisemitic activity in Australia following the October 7 attacks in Israel, Albanese appointed Jillian Segal as Australian special envoy on combatting antisemitism. Segal has a long history of advocacy for Jewish communities and combating antisemitism, and her appointment was supported by the federal opposition. In October 2024, Albanese appointed Malik as Australian special envoy on combatting Islamophobia. Malik is a prominent Muslim leader and advocate for interfaith dialogue.First term of government (2022–2025)
Economy
was sworn in as Treasurer of Australia and Katy Gallagher was sworn in as Finance Minister as part of the interim Albanese ministry. The Albanese government commenced amidst the 2021–23 global surge in inflation. The Australian inflation rate peaked at 7.5% at the end of 2022, a 32-year high, before easing to 2.8% by October 2024. Between 4 May 2022 and 8 November 2023, the Reserve Bank of Australia steadily raised interest rates from 0.10% to 4.35%, a 12-year high. The Bank then maintained the rate of 4.35% until cutting it to 4.10% on 19 February 2025, the first rate cut since March 2020.Tax cuts and reform
On 28 February 2023, the government announced that it would seek to reduce tax concessions on superannuation accounts with more than $3 million. In November 2023 it introduced legislation to do this, but was unable to secure support for it from the Senate.In January 2024, the Albanese government announced a restructuring of the "Stage Three" tax cuts that had been passed by the previous government but had not yet come into effect. The Albanese government's restructuring gave greater tax benefits to those earning under $150,000 whilst reducing the original tax cut for higher earners. The Coalition criticised Albanese for breaking a promise not to change the cuts and initially suggested they would not support it, but did eventually support the legislation's passage in February 2024. The modified tax cuts came into effect on 1 July 2024.
On 27 March 2025, as part of its fourth budget, the Albanese government legislated a further tax cut that Chalmers called "modest but meaningful". This tax cut will reduce the 16% rate for the lowest tax bracket for all taxpayers, down to 15% on 1 July 2026 and then to 14% on 1 July 2027.