What are the key election dates? How does the caretaker period work?

Anthony Albanese has called a general election for May 3, kicking off a campaign in which both major parties – and a range of minor parties and independents – vie for your vote. The prime minister will go head-to-head with Liberal leader Peter Dutton, who is coming up against a Labor government that has been in power for the past three years.

So, what happens now that the election has been called? And what are the major issues that will divide voters and parties?

Australians will go to the polls on May 3.Credit: Marija Ercegovac

Who’s more popular at the moment?

Exclusive polling for this masthead, conducted by research company Resolve Strategic, shows Dutton has a lead over Albanese as preferred prime minister, ahead by 39 to 35 per cent.

When it comes to which party people prefer, the Coalition is ahead, while support for the Greens and Pauline Hanson’s One Nation has remained around the same.

But a series of opinion polls showed Labor gaining ground after it began airing budget policies, including investments, Medicare, roads and schools.

Independent analyst Adrian Beaumont, a statistician at the University of Melbourne, wrote on March 17 that Labor had led in three of the last opinion polls.

The next Resolve poll will be released soon.

What’s the caretaker period?

In a general election, people are voting for a member of parliament who will represent their local area. Now that the election has been called, the House of Representatives has been dissolved, and all 150 seats – one less than the 151 seats at the last election – are up for grabs. The party or coalition that commands a majority of seats will then form a government. (A half-Senate election will also be held on election day when 40 positions will be voted on – half of the 72 “original” Senate state seats plus two seats each for the Australian Capital Territory and Northern Territory.)

The caretaker period begins at the time the house is dissolved and continues until there is a clear election result. During an election campaign, government decisions need to continue until a new one is elected, and so, by convention, the existing government acts as a “caretaker” to address important administrative and business duties.

Caretaker conventions say the government should avoid making major policy decisions and significant appointments or entering into major contracts or undertakings, including international negotiations and engagements. The caretaker period exists so an incoming government is not committed to major policy decisions made by the previous government. Ministers will often seek to clear the decks by passing legislation in the lead-up to an election.

Once the House of Representatives has been dissolved, writs must be issued within 10 days, but usually much sooner. A writ is a document commanding an electoral officer to hold an election and contains dates for the close of rolls, the close of nominations, the polling day and the return of the writs. The governor-general issues writs for the House of Representatives election and the territories for Senate elections, and the state governors issue writs for the states’ Senate elections.

What are the key dates?

Election day is on May 3, and polling booths will be open between 8am and 6pm. Polling places are usually at local schools, church halls or public buildings.

Voting is compulsory for all Australians over the age of 18. Writs are issued within 10 days of the dissolution of parliament, which happened on Friday morning. Enrolments will close 7 days after the issue of the writs.

If you live overseas or know that you won’t be able to make it to a polling place on election day, you can vote early. There is a range of options, which include postal voting and in-person early voting. You can find out more about early voting options here.

What key issues are people talking about?

With 13 interest rate rises since May 2022 and stubbornly high inflation, the cost of living is the hot election topic. The Reserve Bank’s recent interest rate cut of 25 basis points, taking the cash rate to 4.1 per cent, has relieved some of the pressure on households.

On Tuesday night, Treasurer Jim Chalmers announced that more than 12 million workers will receive a tax cut of $268 next year and $536 the following year.

This followed power bill relief in both the 2024 and 2025 budgets to tackle high energy prices. Labor also rejigged the stage 3 tax cuts to offer reductions for all workers, lifted Commonwealth rent assistance and funding for home care packages for the elderly, and cut student debt and the cost of medicines.

In his budget reply speech on Thursday night, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton confirmed the Coalition would not offer tax cuts to match Labor during the election campaign. It means the cost-of-living battle will be fought on Labor’s tax reduction versus the opposition’s fuel excise cut.

The fuel excise cut, which would kick in sooner than Labor’s tax cuts if the Coalition won office, is a $6 billion plan to shrink the cost of petrol – a pitch aimed at voters in outer suburban seats with long daily commutes.

Dutton is also promising to drive down the cost of energy by ramping up gas supplies and forcing producers to divert more gas to the local market in a controversial “gas reservation” proposal.

This follows promises to slash permanent migration and introduce a two-year ban on foreign investors and temporary residents buying existing houses and apartments, adding to the Coalition’s policy to let younger Australians use their superannuation to buy their first homes.

Climate change and investment in renewable resources have also emerged as key election issues.

Labor has set a target to cut emissions by 43 per cent – from 2005 levels – by 2030 and insists it is on track, but the goal assumes renewable sources will make up 82 per cent of electricity generation by that deadline. It is confronting concerns from renewable companies about obstacles to their investments and delays in rolling out the required poles and wires to connect solar and wind farms to the grid.

Dutton has said he will not set a target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and instead favours building nuclear power plants along with gas and renewables to achieve net zero emissions by 2050.

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