Labor swings the axe as Anthony Albanese re-elected as Australian PM in landmark election victory

Liberals were left in shock at just how rapidly a sea of red swept across the country as Labor recorded one of its biggest ever election victories.

Anthony Albanese is the first person to be re-elected as Australia’s prime minister in more than two decades, while Peter Dutton lost his own seat in a devastating result for the Coalition.

Labor recorded a staggering win securing 84 seats on Saturday, while the Liberals were left in shock at how quickly the night turned into a horror show for the party with projected losses across the country.

The Opposition leader’s failure to cut through on his message that Labor had poorly managed the economy, fuelled the cost of living crisis and did not deserve another three years cost the Coalition dearly.

The Prime Minister’s win was so decisive that the election was called in his favour only an hour after polls closed in Western Australia – the state that Labor relied on to narrowly win government in 2022.

HOW MANY SEATS HAS LABOR WON?

Labor secured a staggering 84 seats.

As of 8.45pm with about 21 per cent of the vote counted, Labor was well ahead in eight seats held by the Liberals.

Labor’s national primary vote had lifted 2.73 per cent from two years ago up to 33.83 per cent.

Peter Dutton conceded after the Labor party recorded a huge election win. Picture: AP / Pat Hoelscher

In Mr Dutton’s home state of Queensland, the Liberal National Party suffered a massive 5.16 per cent swing against it.

This included in his own seat, where Labor candidate Ali France was swept into poll position following a massive 11 per cent drop in Mr Dutton’s primary vote as of 9pm. Treasurer Jim Chalmers said Mr Dutton’s loss in Dickson was a shock even for Labor, even though he believed Ms France would give it a “red hot crack”.

“I thought it was 50-50 at best,” he said.

Mr Chalmers said Mr Dutton had made an “egregious error” in suggesting he’d be comfortable building a nuclear reactor in his own electorate.

The Coalition had been scathing of Labor’s “scare campaign” suggesting the Liberals would cut things like Medicare in order to fund its promise to build seven nuclear plants by 2050, but failed to effectively negate the attacks.

Mr Albanese said during the campaign that the economics of the nuclear plan “didn’t stack up”.

Anthony Albanese has been re-elected for a second term as PM. Picture: NewsWire / Jeremy Piper

Multiple Liberal MPs said the contest for Mr Dutton’s replacement would likely be between his deputy Sussan Ley, treasury spokesman Angus Taylor and immigration spokesman Dan Tehan.

The Liberals were also on the brink of defeat in the Victorian seats of Deakin and Menzies, as well as Sturt in Adelaide.

In the far north Queensland seat of Leichhardt, Labor was also on track to defeat the Liberals, with the Coalition also at risk of losing Petrie in Brisbane.

In the seat of Brisbane, won by the Greens in 2022, Labor was comfortably ahead, while in the neighbouring electorate of Griffith the two parties were neck-and-neck on first preferences. Labor also easily retained the ultra-marginal Sydney seat of Bennelong, feared lost when a redistribution made the seat notionally Liberal.

In the NSW marginal seat of Gilmore, which was heavily targeted by the Liberals, Labor was in front as of 9pm.

Mr Chalmers said Labor was also looking to Tasmania to “pick something up,” with Braddon in the state’s north west looking positive for the party.

Peter Dutton with his family concedes defeat.

Donald Trump loomed large over the 2025 election, with Mr Dutton struggling to distance himself from the US President due to the Coalition’s adoption of policies similar to the Republican like cuts to the public service and reducing government waste.

WHAT HAS LABOR PROMISED?

Just days after the progressive Liberal Party in Canada was resoundingly returned to office off the back of Prime Minister Mark Carney’s anti-Trump platform, Labor has followed suit, suggesting the incumbency curse that swept the globe last year fuelled by anger at the cost of living has subsided in the wake of the controversial US President’s election.

Preparedness to govern and reliability in an uncertain world were key themes of Mr Albanese’s re-election pitch. Mr Albanese and Mr Dutton wrapped up five weeks of campaigning on Saturday in their home states of NSW and Queensland, each dialling up the football references in an apparent attempt to appeal to the average voter across suburban Australia where the election will be decided.

While the PM went for a big picture moment in the battleground state of Melbourne before voting in his own Sydney electorate, Mr Dutton spent the day much like any other on the campaign – visiting a petrol station.