Australian election 2025: Counting underway for May 3 federal election
Anthony Albanese has claimed victory in front ecstatic Labor supporters, after Opposition Leader Peter Dutton conceded defeat in Saturday’s historic election.
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Anthony Albanese has addressed his supporters in Sydney.
“Serving as your Prime Minister is the greatest honour of my life. And it is with a deep sense of humility and a profound sense of responsibility that the first thing I do tonight is to say thank you to the people of Australia for the chance to continue to serve,” Mr Albanese said in his victory speech.
“And I acknowledge the traditional owners of the land on which we meet.”
That acknowledgment of country got a huge cheer in the room – something that would not have gone unnoticed, given the role the Welcome to Country played late in the campaign.
Today the Australian people have voted for Australian values. For fairness, aspiration and opportunity for all. For the strength to show courage in adversity, and kindness to those in need,” he said.
“And Australians have voted for a future that holds true to these values. A future built on everything that brings us together as Australians, and everything that sets our nation apart from the world.
“In this time of global uncertainty, Australians have chosen optimism. Australians have chosen to face global challenges the Australian way, looking after each other.
“Australians have chosen a majority Labor government.”
There was the slightest hint of drama as Mr Albanese acknowledged the efforts of his opponent.
“A short time ago, I spoke with Peter Dutton, who has of course conceded defeat. And I thank him – no. No,” Mr Albanese said, as the first signs of heckling arose in the crowd.
“What we do in Australia is we treat people with respect,” Mr Albanese said.
“I thank Peter for his generous words at the end of what has been a hard-fought campaign. And I want to take this opportunity to wish Peter and Kirilly and their family all the best for their future.”
He went on to say that “the world has thrown a lot at our country over the past three years”.
“I know there’s still much more to do, to help people under pressure. That is why it means so much that in these uncertain times, the people of Australia have placed their trust in Labor once again, including so many Australians who have voted Labor for the first time.
“We will not forget that. We will never take it for granted. Repaying your trust will drive our government each and every day.”
Mr Albanese’s speech acknowledged the challenges offered by the rest of the world.
“This is a time of profound opportunity for our nation. We have everything we need to seize this moment and make it our own,” he said.
“For Australia to realise our full potential, every Australian must have the opportunity to be their best. To serve our Australian values, we must value every Australian. And Labor will govern for every Australian.
“Every Australian who wants a fair go at work. Fair wages for their work, and the right to disconnect when they’re done with work. Every Australian who deserves the security of a roof over their head or dreams of owning their own home. Every woman who wants her contribution to our society to be valued equally. Every parent who wants their child to get a fair start in life.”
He subsequently repeated a frequent election campaign stunt by pulling out a Medicare card.
“This card is not Labor red or Liberal blue, it is green and gold,” the PM said.
Wild scenes greet Albo
Inside the election party, tables were crowded with tins of Willie the Boatman’s Albo Ale, with the roaring crowd jubilant.
Attendees watching the ABC broadcast erupted into cheers with every seat that was called for Labor.
In the moments before Foreign Minister Penny Wong took the stage to introduce Mr Albanese, the Tasmanian seats of Braddon, Bass and Franklin were all called for Labor, with the crowded room launching into applause.
As Senator Wong declared a “new chapter” for Australia, the energy in the room reached fever pitch, with the Prime Minister given a rapturous welcome by the party faithful.
Supporters nodded in agreement while listening to Mr Albanese speech, which emphasised the “positive program” put forward by Labor, and the unity, compassion and kindness of the Australian people.
However it was the words “majority government” which got the loudest cheer, with the volume deafening.
While Mr Albanese’s speech barely mentioned the Coalition, or Peter Dutton, he did briefly offer a touching tribute to Ali France, who defeated the Opposition Leader in his seat of Dickson after trying twice previously.
When some members of the crowd began to boo and bristle at Mr Dutton’s name, Mr Albanese quickly moved to stop the disquiet.
Dutton concedes defeat
Peter Dutton has conceded defeat in both the election and his own seat, as Anthony Albanase led Labor to a majority second term of government.
The Opposition Leader rang the Prime Minister to concede and congratulate Mr Albanese on his win in Saturday’s election.
Mr Dutton also rang Labor candidate Ali France to congratulate on winning the marginal northern Brisbane seat of Dickson after three attempts to unseat.
“We didn’t do well enough during this campaign. That much is obvious tonight,”
“I accept full responsibility for that.
“Earlier on I called the Prime Minister to congratulate him on his success tonight. It’s an historic occasion for the Labor Party and we recognise that.”
Mr Albanese is expected to address the party faithful at the Labor election event in Syndey shortly.
Albanese wins historic second term
Anthony Albanese has secured a second term, but whether he will form a majority or minority government is still to be determined.
As he secured the historic win, things are looking decidedly less jubilant in the Coalition camp.
The Liberal election event got off to a drab start on Saturday night, with the number of media outnumbering supporters.
While volunteers and staffers were streaming in, photos from the event showed a relatively empty space.
About 45 supporters were seen at function space at The W in Brisbane, as early polling results indicated a 3.14 per cent swing against the Coalition.
Sky News election analyst Tom Connell, calling the election at 8.19pm, said it was not yet clear exactly what the next government would look like, but that it would certainly be led by Mr Albanese.
“There’s positivity within Labor, it could be majority, but Anthony Albanese will again be Prime Minister of Australia,” he said.
Chief anchor Kieran Gilbert said it was “a major moment for Labor and for Anthony Albanese”
“... the first prime minister since 2004 to serve the full term and be re-elected,” he said.
While the count was in its early days, and did not factor in the pre-poll votes which would likely favour the Opposition Leader, Mr Dutton’s own seat of Dickson was also under threat.
Labor election party erupts
In comparison, the Labor event in Anthony Albanese’s electorate of Grayndler picked up steam early.
By 8pm, crowds had flooded into the Canterbury-Hurlstone Park RSL, with supporters appearing hopeful and optimistic.
The Labor election night party erupted into a chorus of cheers and woos, with Labor winning a second term of government.
Attendees were hugging in celebration of the early win.
Supporters were chanting: “Labor, Labor Labor,” with several broadcaster calling the election in Labor’s favour.
One supporter exclaimed to her friend: “Is this real?” with her friend responding with a jubilant: “Yes”.
The second term victory means Anthony Albanese has become the first prime minister to secure back-to-back election wins since 2003.
The mood inside the Labor party room reached fever pitch after Peter Dutton’s seat of Dickson was called for Labor’s Ali France.
Supporters chanted her name and screamed in joy, after the ABC called the seat for Ms France.
This was her third time contesting the seat.
One supporter at the party, Michelle, described Ms France as a “true believer”.
“Ali has been campaigning in Dutton’s seat for years. She a true believer and we are so proud of her,” she said.
Celebrating Labor’s election victory, Michelle said she had no doubt Labor would “smash” the election.
“Yes I did because I’m an optimist. I knew we were going to smash this election. For Peter Dutton to lose his seat to Ali is the cherry on top.”
‘Toxic’: Lambie lashes Hanson over daughter’s seat
Jacqui Lambie has lashed Pauline Hanson’s “toxic” behaviour after a tough battle in Tasmania for a Senate seat that included the One Nation leader’s daughter, Lee.
Speaking to Seven about 7.30pm on Saturday, she said “I don’t run into the toxic stuff, I won’t do it.”
Senator Lambie, who previously told NewsWire she would not run for another term after this election, said she wished Lee Hanson “all the best”, and was not interested in the argy bargy of the campaign.
“I just get on with the job,” she said.
“People still have tough times out there. That doesn’t stop for the five weeks (of the election campaign).”
Senator Lambie said it was too early to tell if she would be returned to parliament.
“I haven’t seen any Senate numbers come through. We’re all on the edge of our seats.”
‘Coalition can’t win majority’: Sky News’ Tom Connell
Sky News election analyst Tom Connell says the Coalition will not win enough seats to form a majority government.
With just 8 per cent of the national vote counted so far, Connell says he is seeing
“very little joy” in the key seats NSW or Queensland.
“So the issue is I’m just not saying enough good news,’ Connell said at 7.45pm.
“This is not saying the election’s done yet overall, but this is the starting point for getting a majority.”
He said the Coalition needs to win an extra 20 seats to get a majority.
“Even if the Coalition can win six over in the West of the country, we have just not seen a momentum.
“Clearly, there’s not a swing on for them in NSW and Queensland. There could be some pick up still in Victoria, but as a result, we’re saying the coalition will not form a majority government.”
Voting in WA closes at 8pm AEST.
Opposition senator’s big call
Nationals senator Bridget McKenzie says Anthony Albanese would have failed if he doesn’t increase Labor’s majority on Saturday.
With Labor enjoying an early nationwide lead on the Coalition, the opposition’s chances of booting the Albanese government out are shrinking.
Senator McKenzie told Nine’s election panel anything short of an “increased majority” would be a failure for the Prime Minister, saying Mr Albanese “set himself up a big majority man”.
But she insisted she was not admitting the Coalition did not have a pathway to victory.
“I’m not conceding,” the senior opposition senator said.
“I’m saying that anything less than an increased majority for Anthony Albanese is a fail for the Labor government.”
Shorten blames “wrecker” Clive for splitting conservative
Former Labor minister Bill Shorten has taken aim at Clive Palmer’s big spending campaign for the Trumpet of Patriots party, saying he had “wrecked” the conservative vote.
“There is no doubt, Clive, you are a formidable communicator … but for conservatives, you’re a wrecker. You split their vote,” Mr Shorten told the Seven Network about 7.30pm.
“You certainly had an impact in 2019, unarguably. But, you know, you are … It’s a giant billionaire’s vanity project.”
Mr Palmer predicted the Albanese government would return with a majority.
“I have been looking across at the swings overall across the country and it seems that unfortunately Labor’s getting a lot more swings than Liberals,” Mr Palmer told the 7 panel.
“I think what we’re going to see is an Albanese government return to the majority. I think there could be a loss of Liberal seats between 10 and 15 seats.
“I think that the Peter Dutton’s performance is probably the worst since Federation, as far as a conservative leader goes.”
Meanwhile, maverick MP Bob Katter has unleashed on both Labor and the LNP.
“Do you have no sense of right or wrong when you govern Australia? Or you govern Queensland?” he told Seven.
“I mean, they don’t govern anything. They are just there to make mealy mouthed statements attacking their opponents. And the election was a good example of that.”
Mr Katter, 79, looks like being returned in his North Queensland seat of Kennedy, retaining his Father of the Parliament title as the longest serving MP.
“I don’t sort of count my chickens before they hatch. But we’re up on last time significantly. We had a very handsome win last time, but there’s a lot of polling to go yet,” he told Seven.
Labor serving ‘Albo pale ale’ at election night party
While the election night party, or wake, has only just begun, there was a bountiful supply of the pale ale made in honour of the Prime Minister.
Created in 2012 by Sydney brewery Willie the Boatman, the Albo Pale Ale is described as an “easy drinking affair” (their words not ours) with hints of “melon, pine and spice”.
Labor’s election night event has been held at the Canterbury-Hurlstone Park RSL Club in Mr Albanese’s electorate of Grayndler for the second year in a row.
As of 6pm, the function room was relatively empty – as could be expected.
Voting has now closed on the east coast, with counting to begin with nearly 18.1 million Australians enrolled to vote.
What the parties need to win
A total of 76 seats is needed to secure a majority in the 150-seat parliament.
Going into Saturday’s election, Labor holds a notional 78 seats and the Coalition a notional 57 seats.
There are notionally 15 MPs on the crossbench, including four Greens, five independents and minor parties, and six Teals.
There is one seat less than there was at the 2022 election due to a redistribution in late 2024.
Despite nearly half of voters casting their ballots in early voting, millions around the country lined up for their democracy sausage and chance to decide the next government on Saturday.
Voting got underway at 8am local time and closed at 6pm. Western Australia will finish voting two hours after the east coast, as they are in a separate time zone.
‘Not at all confident’: Monique Ryan
Teal independent Monique Ryan says she doesn’t know if she can hold onto the key seat of Kooyong in Melbourne after a bitter fight by the Liberals to win it back.
She was asked on Sky News at 7.20pm whether she was confident of holding on.
“No. Look, I’m not at all confident, the feeling is it’s going to be very close,” Dr Ryan said.
“I’m really not sure what’s going to happen tonight. It’s been a pretty hard fought campaign.”
Dr Ryan beat then treasurer Josh Frydenberg in the 2022 election in a shock upset.
The Liberals have put up Amelia Hamer this time around and thrown resources at it, but the boundaries have also been redrawn which also favour the Liberals.
Hanson ‘upbeat’ about daughter beating Lambie
Pauline Hanson says her daughter Lee is in with a good chance to oust fiery senator Jacqui Lambie.
“I was up all day today and people were very receptive, obviously and very impressed with her,” Senator Hanson told Sky News at 7.15pm.
“The thing is Jacqui Lambie hasn’t been seen around the state.
“She’s hasn’t put any signage up. She has not done any lower house candidates in any of the five sets. She had no volunteers handing out how to vote cards.”
Senator Hanson said she was getting a lot of feedback showing support for One Nation.
“So it’s going to be quite interesting once we see these folks coming. So I’m very, upbeat about Lee hopefully winning the senate polling.”
Barnaby claims victory in New England
Barnaby Joyce has claimed victory in his northern NSW seat of New England.
The former Nationals leader’s seat was never in doubt,
“Very humbled, I’m very blessed that I’ve got such beautiful people that keep backing me in,” he said while sitting on the Sky News panel.
Labor MP Murray Watt joked that Mr Joyce should have been a shoo-in.
“If Barnaby can’t win, then we’re in very weird territory.”
Betoota boys back in Wong over Voice comments
The two men behind satirical news outlet Betoota Advocate have defended Penny Wong after she appeared to suggest the Voice to parliament was inevitable while appearing on their podcast.
Speaking to Sandra Sully on the 10 News election panel on Saturday, editor Clancy Overell said the outrage was a case of media “mining for outrage when there wasn’t any”.
“If you listen to her, she’s offering more of a reflection rather than prediction, but you know, in this climate, Sandra, people aren’t really listening to the nuance, but looking for manufactured scandal and outrage,” he said.
“We should know. Nobody does it better than us.”
Senator Wong said on the podcast last week the debate over the failed referendum would one day be looked back on with confusion.
“I think we’ll look back on it in 10 years time and it’ll be a bit like marriage equality,” she said.
“I always used to say, marriage equality, which took us such a bloody fight to get that done, and I thought, ‘all this fuss’. It’ll become something, it’ll be like, ‘did we even have an argument about that?’
“Like, kids today, or even adults today, barely kind of clock that it used to be an issue. Remember how big an issue that was in the culture wars? Blimey, just endless.”
Liberals don’t expect to win, Sky News
The Liberal Party is expecting to lose the election, falling 10 to 12 seats short of the target of 76 seats in the 150-seat parliament.
“My high level sources tell me that Liberals’ internal modelling in the final position had them picking up between 64 to 66 seats, and they’re predicting that Labor will win between 70 and 75,” Sharri Markson told Sky News about 6.15pm.
“Now (Peter) Dutton will obviously be hoping to get in the high 60s but potentially even 70.
“That would be a very difficult ask.
“But the second task of the night is to drag Labor down into deep minority. If they can do that, then Dutton would be likely to continue on as leader.”
Meanwhile, Liberal senator James McGrath said at 6pm Australia would not get a definitive result tonight.
While he conceded there was a “very narrow pathway” to a Coalition victory, describing it as “a goat track”, he believed the opposition still had a chance.
“I think when everybody goes to bed, too many seats will be too close to call,” he said on the ABC.
“There is a high soft vote out there still and there are a number of unique and different contests across the country.”
Election was always going to be hard, Coalition frontbencher
The Coalition’s campaign spokesman James Paterson has conceded “this was always going to be a challenging campaign for the Coalition,” with polling steadily pointing towards a minority Labor government.
“We were up against 100 years of history in terms of turfing out a first-term government, and throughout this term we lost one seat in a by-election and three seats to defections to the crossbench,” he said.
“There have been some high expectations of the Coalition over the last few months, I think we should be looking at history and measure ourselves against that.”
While he admitted the Coalition did not have a ”perfect campaign,” saying no such thing exists, he said Anthony Albanese also made mistakes.
“He had a few gaffes like when he said the Australian Defence Force was monitoring the Chinese research vessel when it was Australian border force and other issues like that so no leader and no campaign had a perfect showing,” he said.
“But I can say from someone who was at coalition campaign headquarters who was a member of the Parliamentary party, it was a highly professional campaign.”
What will happen to the One Nation vote?
A lot of attention will also be given to the One Nation vote, and how the party’s preferences could affect the final vote.
Currently, the minor political party holds two seats in the Senate and none in the House, however leader Pauline Hanson has said the party’s impact will be significant.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers said he believed the vote “will be up”, however the party could also cannibalise primary votes for the Coalition.
“We have seen (the Coalition primary vote) in the mid 30s and sometimes lower than that and that is because they are being cannibalised a little bit to their right and this is where the American influence comes in,” he said.
“The more enthusiastically Peter Dutton has courted those right wing voters, the less mainstream the party becomes and that has been an opportunity for us.”
LNP senator James McGrath also said the Coalition was facing an attack on both sides.
“We have Labor to the left and in terms of the Greens also pilfering away at some of our votes,” he said.
‘Feeling is really good’: Bandt
Greens leader Adam Bandt said he expected the minor party to do well in counting, especially in Brisbane where it holds three seats and would fend off a challenge from the Liberals.
“I know Peter Dutton’s only potential pathway to power runs through those seats in Brisbane,” Mr Bandt told Sky News about 6.35pm.
“We’ve been really clear that keeping Brisbane Green is key to keeping Peter Dutton out.”
“We began our campaign up to with that message.”
He said he was also getting a good feeling after campaigning on the ground in Melbourne during the day.
“We started this morning with the greens up in all the polls, and it was certainly the feeling that, that I was getting from talking to people”
Marles makes early call on Vic seat
Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles says he believes Labor would retain Corangamite in Victoria’s southwest.
To be fair, Labor holds the electorate on a safe 7.8 per cent margin, however Mr Marles said he had a “sense of optimism”.
However he would not give a direct answer when asked about how the unpopular Labor state government would affect Labor’s performance across the state.
“I don’t take anything for granted so again I won’t venture any predictions,” he told the ABC about 6.30pm.
“It is probably more a reflection on my personality than anything else but once we get to 6pm I sort of hit a wall of pessimism but that has happened in every election.”
Key seats to watch
Although there are 150 seats across the country, the battle for government will narrow down to about 20 seats.
Both the Prime Minister and Opposition Leader have focused their campaigns in those seats, particular in Melbourne, Western Sydney and Brisbane, and Western Australia.
The latest Newspoll, published by The Australian on Friday night, suggested Mr Albanese is on track to return Labor to a second term in government.
The closely watched poll, taken from surveys conducted between April 27 and May 1, showed Labor ahead of the Coalition 52.5 per cent to 47.5 per cent on a two-party preferred basis.
Labor’s primary vote sits at 33 per cent – slightly above its 2022 performance – while the Coalition’s primary vote has slumped to a record low of 34 per cent.
The seats to watch:
* NSW: Banks, Bennelong, Bradfield, Calare and Cowper
* Victoria: Dunkley, Menzies, Wannon
* Queensland: Bonner, Brisbane, Leichhardt
* WA: Bullwinkel, Perth
* SA: Sturt
* Tasmania: Braddon, Bass, Lyons
The Teals and independents
The crossbench in the next parliament is expected to still be relatively largely, but there will be changes.
Sydney Teals Allegra Spender in Wentworth, Sophie Scamps in Mackellar and Zoe Steggall in Warringah are expected to hold on in comfortably.
Teal Kylea Tink is out of parliament following the abolition of North Sydney, but a new independent Nicolette Boele is tipped to win the neighbouring seat of Bradfield from the Liberals.
But in Melbourne, Monique Ryan in Kooyong and Zoe Daniel in Goldstein are facing a tougher battle, while Kate Chaney is thought to be in trouble in the former blue-ribbon Liberal seat of Curtin.
Long term independents Bob Katter (Kennedy, Qld), Andrew Wilkie (Clark, Tas), Helen Haines (Indi, Vic) and Rebekha Sharkie (Mayo, SA) are not expected to have any trouble being returned.
Meanwhile, Nationals turncoat Andrew Gee will battle it out in the central NSW seat of Calare against the candidate for his former party Sam Faraway.
Greens have high ambitions
The Greens have eyes building its lower house representation to nine, and playing a key role in a minority government.
The Greens currently hold four seats – Melbourne and Brisbane, Griffith and Ryan in inner Brisbane.
Leader Adam Bandt has said the minor party also has aims on Macnamara and Wills in Melbourne, Richmond in northern NSW. Sturt in Adelaide and Perth.
“One thing will be crystal clear, the Greens will play a big role in the next parliament, and we’re the ones pushing for the real lasting reforms,”
“We would like to see dental into Medicare for everyone, but we need to take action on the housing crisis and the climate and environment crisis well.
“We put forward ideas that we think could get done this year.”
Originally published as Australian election 2025: Counting underway for May 3 federal election
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