Federal Election 2025: Albanese and Dutton hit campaign trail, voters gear up for May 3
The election has been called, politicians have made their opening pitches and the campaign trail has begun. But what happens now?
Parliament has been dissolved, Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton have made their opening pitches, and the campaign has officially begun. But what happens now?
The election is set for May 3 and anyone eligible will have to ensure they are enrolled to vote by April 7 or potentially face being fined.
Every candidate for the House of Representatives and the Senate will be finalised on April 11, just over three weeks before the election.
Most people will head to polling booths on May 3, but millions are expected to vote early in the two weeks before election day.
At the 2022 federal election, 8.41 million people voted early, nearly half of the 17.6 million people who were on the electoral roll at the time.
The Australian Electoral Commission said the early voting period will start from April 22 – just after the Easter long weekend.
Not all early voting centres will be open for the entire two week period, so it’s important to check before you go.
But be warned: not everyone is eligble to vote early and avoid election day queues.
Voters can’t cast their ballot early, whether in person or by post, unless they have justifiable reasons. According to the AEC, these include if you are:
• Outside the electorate where you are enrolled to vote or more than 8km from a polling place on election day
• Travelling or unable to leave your workplace to vote
• Sick or due to give birth (or caring for someone who is)
• Prevented by religious beliefs from going on election day
• In prison serving a sentence of less than three years
• A silent elector
• Reasonably fearful for your safety or wellbeing
Centre locations will be released closer to the early voting period.
Dutton rips into PM
Coalition leader Peter Dutton has declared “Australia is going backwards” as he kicked off his pitch to voters with scalding criticism of Anthony Albanese’s tenure as prime minister.
“The Prime Minister spent the first half of this term of parliament obsessed with the Voice, and it meant he didn’t have a plan to deal with the scourge of inflation,” he said on Friday.
“Because of his bad decisions, Australians are doing it tough and they need help. Worse still for many, they’re losing hope for their future.”
He said that Labor’s policies had increased costs for Australian families and many young people had “lost the dream of home ownership because Mr Albanese created this housing crisis where people can’t afford rent.”
Mr Dutton’s campaign speech, delivered from Brisbane, reiterated cost of living relief efforts mentioned in Thursday night’s budget reply, including the fuel excise and “cheaper energy”.
“And I sincerely really want to do everything that I can, if I’m given the great honour of being Prime Minister, to be the Prime Minister for the home affordability and accessibility.”
He said the Coalition government would deliver cheaper energy to Australian households and provide financial support but in a “responsible way”.
“When it comes to the economy, inflation, energy, housing and security, Labor has simply failed to deliver,” he said.
“And unfortunately, Mr Albanese is too weak and Labor is too incompetent to fix the problems that they’ve created and that are facing our country today. We can’t afford three more years like the last three.”
Greens’ bold claim on Medicare
Greens leader Adam Bandt addressed reporters just hours after the prime minister called the election, saying both major parties’ pitches were “about as attractive as a dead fish.”
“The election is on. Minority government is coming. And with the major parties’ offerings about as attractive as a dead fish, you can see why,” he said.
He said the Greens were not interested in ministerial positions, with the party’s focus instead on making Labor act and pushing Liberals out.
“With a minority government on the cards this election, this is a once-in-a-generation chance to keep Peter Dutton out and get Labor to act on the housing crisis, the cost-of-living crisis and the climate and environment crisis,” Mr Bandt said.
He said the Greens were running their “biggest campaign ever” and were in a “very strong position”.
“Last time there was a minority parliament, the Greens got dental into Medicare for kids. This time we want to get it in for everyone,” Mr Bandt said.
“This is an incredible opportunity.”
‘Target’: Bandt on AUKUS
Mr Bandt also doubled down on the Greens’ push for Australia to leave AUKUS, a defence pact with the UK and US that is backed by both Labor and the Coalition.
He said it was the “wrong time” for Australia’s defence policy to be “totally contracted out to Donald Trump.”
“We are the only ones pushing to cancel the AUKUS arrangements and the nuclear submarines.
“We don’t want Australia to have a huge Donald Trump-shaped target painted on our back by being part of AUKUS.”
Albo’s teary Medicare push
Kicking off his official run for a second term as prime minister, Anthony Albanese appeared to tear up as he paid tribute to his late mother while vowing to fight for “Australian values”.
In a campaign pitch which placed Labor’s positivity and optimism against Coalition’s negativity, the Prime Minister described Australia’s universal healthcare and Medicare system as a bedrock of the “Australian way”.
“The Australian way is that we look after each other,” he said, holding up his personal Medicare card.
“This card is part of Australian values. The Australian values that say when Kerry Packer has a heart attack, he goes to the emergency department at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, the same hospital that I went to when I had my car accident when I was leader of the Labor Party in January 2020 (and) got the same level of care,” he said.
He then became noticeably emotional speaking about the death of his mother, Maryanne Albanese, who had raised him as a single mother in working class Camperdown, near the RPA.
She died in 2022, after suffering an aneurysm at home.
“I was in the same room that my mum was in when, as an invalid pensioner, she got taken up the road and she never left RPA,” he said.
“But she got the same care that (billionaire) Kerry Packer got. They’re the Australian values. That’s what I’ll fight for.”
Dutton breaks silence after election called
Peter Dutton has made his first election pitch to voters, calling into 4BC Brisbane on Friday morning.
He said this election was “an opportunity to change the government and get our country back on track”, declaring the Coalition would have “a lot more to say over the next few weeks”.
“I really do think this is a sliding doors moment for our country.
“If we can change the government, we can manage the economy well.”
Mr Dutton stopped short of promising his recently-announced gas plan would lead to a reduction in household bills, saying the Prime Minister’s pre-election vow to bring power bills down by $275 in 2022 was a lie.
“I’m not going to do the $275 lie that the Prime Minister did before the election, I think that he promised to 97 occasions, and on each occasion, he knew that he wasn’t telling the truth,” he said.
”What I do know is that the Liberal Party will always manage the economy more effectively, and if we bring on significantly more supply of gas into the market, and if we reduce the prices, you say, from $14 down to 10, then you can expect that there will be reduced power prices.”
The Opposition leader took issue, however, with the date chosen for the election.
A May 3 polling day clashes with the NRL’s Magic Round, a four-day festival that kicks off Thursday May 1.
Dutton drops first ad as election race kicks off
The 47th Australian parliament is over and both parties are off to a blazing start, with Liberal leader Peter Dutton dropping his first campaign ad as Anthony Albanese called the May 3 election.
Titled “Let’s get Australia back on track”, the ad clocks in at just under two minutes and was posted to Mr Dutton’s social media on Friday morning.
It kicks off a five-week election campaign, with breaks for Easter and Anzac Day, to elect the next leader and parliament of Australia.
PM calls election
Anthony Albanese has made his first pitch to voters after formally calling the election for May 3. The Prime Minister left the Lodge just before 7am on Friday to visit Governor-General Sam Mostyn to ask her to dissolve parliament.
Addressing voters for the first time in the official campaign, Mr Albanese said: “The biggest risk to Australia’s future is going back to the failures of the past … the tax increases and cuts to services that Peter Dutton and the Liberal Party want to lock in.
“A decade of the Liberals keeping wages low, sending jobs offshore and fighting about climate change left our nation open to the worst global inflation since the 1980s and the biggest global energy crisis since the 1970s.”
Mr Albanese brought out a Medicare card in his pitch to return as Prime Minister.
“That is your choice, your job, your wages, your child’s education, and importantly, as well, this thing here, your Medicare card. They’re all in your hands,” Mr Albanese said.
Election fever hits
Both major parties have made their pitches for Australia’s top job amid a hectic week of battleground budgets, with it now confirmed voters will hit polling booths within weeks.
Both Labor and Coalition camps have wasted no time pitching to voters before the official election campaign.
Education Minister Jason Clare said Australians would have to make a choice.
“This is a choice between higher taxes under Peter Dutton or lower taxes under Labor,” he said on Sunrise.
“Australians will have a choice in the next few weeks between Labor and Medicare, or Peter Dutton and nuclear reactors.”
Deputy Opposition Leader Sussan Ley hit back, claiming the election would be fought on the economy.
“This election is about who can manage the economy better. Who can help Australians to get ahead,” she said.
Budgets and brain explosions
Labor led the charge after handing down its fourth federal budget on Tuesday and focused on traditional policy areas like health and education.
The government’s promises included an unexpected, “modest” tax cut for every Australian taxpayer, cheaper medicines and increased funding for Medicare, as well as a 20 per cent reduction of HECS-HELP debts.
Two days later, Peter Dutton outlined his vision as prime minister in a highly-anticipated budget response, pushing areas like energy, migration and “efficiency.”
The opposition leader pledged to deliver a gas reservation policy, 25 per cent cut to the permanent migration program, slashing the fuel excise, and a shrinking of the public service by 41,000 in a bid to increase government “efficiency”.
Mr Dutton also promised to match Labor’s $8.5b Medicare investment “dollar for dollar” with an $400m investment into youth mental health services.
Tax cut debacle
Labor’s unexpected tax cuts became one of the more contentious points among the two parties during the week.
The changes would permanently affect the marginal tax rates, with a 2 per cent cut delivered over two years.
Shadow treasurer Angus Taylor ripped into the plan and described it as an “election bribe” and confirmed the Coalition would repeal them if elected.
“What is it you can buy … turns out a single lolly, a bread roll a small coin donation to a charity box, a single photocopy …” Mr Taylor said of the proposed savings.
“In two and a half years, Australians have seen the biggest collapse in their standard of living in the history of their country,” he added.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers labelled Mr Taylor’s criticism as a “brain explosion” in response.
“That was the brain explosion that came out of the opposition lockup last night when the shadow treasurer decided after bleating about lower taxes in the lead-up to the budget, when this government is delivering it, they say they’re against it,” Mr Chalmers said.
Fuel excise furore
The Coalition said repealing the tax cuts would make way for a temporary halving of the fuel excise – a federal tax on fuel manufacturers and suppliers – which Labor later refused to endorse.
Halving it would shave 25c off a litre of petrol and cost $6bn, with the policy kicking into effect from July but only lasting 12 months.
“Obviously a lot of people are hurting, struggling to make their budgets balance … grocery prices and fuel prices are up,” Mr Dutton said on 2GB on Thursday.
“If we can provide some relief, and bring some prices down, this is the best, most efficient way to provide tangible support to people.”
The move was criticised by Labor frontbenchers including Mr Chalmers, who described the repealing of the tax cuts as “stunningly stupid” during an animated Question Time on Thursday.
The Prime Minister also weighed in on the debate and accused the Liberal Party of being “delusional” when it came to fiscal policy.
Join the conversation
Teal banned from hairdresser for sex joke
A high-profile election candidate has issued an apology after remarks she made to a teen girl surfaced on morning radio.
Read more
Explained: Who is Peter Dutton’s wife, how did they meet
Peter Dutton has been married to his wife Kirilly for the past 22 years. This is how they met and the inside story of her first appearance on the campaign trail.
Read more
Want to avoid a fine? You need to do this now
If you are unable to make it to the polls on May 3, here is how you can cast your vote without copping a fine.
Read more