Federal election set to be battle over cost of living, energy, housing and health
The 2025 federal election will be a battle on a number of fronts, with both the Coalition and Labor confident they can win. But they both face threats from a powerful crossbench.
National
Don't miss out on the headlines from National. Followed categories will be added to My News.
The 2025 federal election will be a battle on cost of living, energy, housing and health, with both the Coalition and Labor confident they have the upper hand, though a minority government dictated to by a powerful crossbench is considered the most likely outcome.
Electorates in the outer suburbs of Sydney and Melbourne, as well as several seats in Perth and northern Tasmania, will be the focus of both major party’s efforts, while the independent “teal” MPs will be battling to hold their ground in inner city areas, and the Greens look to defend their strong presence in Brisbane.
As the Coalition uses the new year to mark the official “failure” of Labor to deliver on its promised $275 reduction on household power bills by 2025 compared to four years ago, the government is sharpening its attack on the opposition’s sparse policy offering.
Labor will spend the remainder of the summer questioning what programs the Coalition plans to cut in order to meet its promised economic outcomes, with opposition sources saying they were “prepared” to battle “false” claims about health similar to the 2019 “Mediscare” attack.
Senior MPs are due to return to work earlier than usual this January, with the usual Christmas and New Year quiet period limited to just a short week before the unofficial campaigning for the 2025 election begins.
Anthony Albanese could call an election at any time, with May 17 the latest possible date for a poll.
Labor has pencilled in an early federal budget for March 25, but some observers believe the government will avoid handing down the likely dire economic figures by going to an election earlier.
Education Minister Jason Clare said, this election, Australians would have a “stark choice” between the Labor government that had been “working hard” and focused on cost of living, or a Coalition opposition that doesn’t “have any ideas”.
“We’ll call out the fact that the Liberal Party under Peter Dutton has no ideas, except for this idea of building nuclear reactors that are just going to jack up the cost of everybody’s electricity bill about 1200 bucks and cost jobs in the energy sector right around the country,” he said.
Coalition energy affordability spokeswoman Melissa McIntosh said households and businesses had been “financially ravaged” by Labor’s energy policy, and the government’s pledge to deliver a $275 saving by 2025 had “officially been broken” as of January 1.
“Many mums and dads are struggling to keep the lights on at home,” she said.
“It is time to ask the government if they really think Aussie families are better off with the high increases in costs for energy, petrol, groceries, insurance, rent and mortgages.”
Ms McIntosh said the number of electricity and gas customers had increased by 79 per cent and 86 per cent respectively in the last two years, with an extra 560 households entering hardship arrangements with their energy retailer each week since Labor took office.
Man charged with 2yo’s murder
A man has been charged over the alleged murder of a two-year-old boy found unconscious at a regional home.
‘Unsettling’: Dutton’s call on ‘terror’ caravan
Opposition leader Peter Dutton has called for an independent assessment of a communications breakdown involving the PM over a failed Sydney terror plot.