Election 2025: Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton set policy battlelines and steel for ‘future war’

The PM has declared the next election a ‘future war’ between Labor and the Coalition, as the Opposition Leader vows a return to Howard and Costello-era economics while calling for a rejection of identity politics in classrooms.

Peter Dutton and Anthony Albanese. Picture: NCA Newswire / Nicki Connolly

Anthony Albanese has declared the next election a “future war” between Labor and the Coalition, as Peter Dutton vows a return to Howard and Costello-era economics while calling for a rejection of identity politics in classrooms.

In the first exclusive interviews with both leaders at the start of the election year, the Liberal leader described the election as a “sliding doors” moment for the nation, pledging to restore plummeting living standards, while reasserting a national security platform and community safety.

The Prime Minister accused the Coalition of promising little more than a return to the past, declaring it a battle between a future vision and a plunge into the dark, in an election contest that presents one of the most profound economic and ideological contests in decades.

Mr Albanese. Picture: AAP

Mr Dutton. Picture: NewsWire / John Gass

“This election is about the future versus the past,” Mr Albanese told The Weekend Australian.

“We have laid our foundations in our first term. We had a lot of things to repair that were in crisis: aged care, child care, housing, wages going backwards, inflation with a six in front of it, not to mention a skills crisis. This election is about who has a vision for the future … Dutton is about the past. He will take the country backwards and we will be worse off.”

As he prepares to try to take the Coalition back into office after a single term in opposition, the Liberal leader has pledged a return to the orthodoxy of Howard-Costello economics to arrest the nation’s unprecedented decline in living standards.

“This is the great ‘sliding doors’ moment for the nation,” Mr Dutton said.

“The Albanese government doesn’t have a good story to tell other than a belief that no one will vote for Dutton. That has fallen flat for them and now they are scrambling around for an agenda.

“We have been conscious from day one that we were not going to be a Labor-lite alternative and I think Labor, through some of its positions on economic mismanagement, border issues and national security issues have made that clear … And that’s why there is a lot at stake.

“Our strategy is based on the experience of working in the Howard government having worked with Peter Costello … there will be a continuation of the economic model they fashioned post-Keating.

“If Labor is proposing more of the same of the last three years, it will take a generation to unwind … The damage Labor is doing again and the agreement with the Greens and endless spending will just keep making the situation worse for families if they are re-elected.”

With an election to be held by May, both the Labor leader and Jim Chalmers in the past week used the new year to try to move past the inflation crisis that had dogged the ALP since it came back to government in 2022.

The major parties enter the election contest tied on a two-party-preferred basis in the most recent state-by-state analysis of Newspoll, as Mr Albanese and Mr Dutton seek the 76 seats required to form a majority in the House of Representatives.

Labor has lost electoral territory in key demographics as well as in the two most populous states, which will hinder its ability to ­retain a majority government and avoid having to rely on the Greens and independents to stay in power.

The Albanese government claims that the Coalition under Mr Dutton will be a plunge into the dark and a return to the past, suggesting that if Mr Dutton had got his way, families would be poorer and unemployment higher.

Mr Albanese said of the Liberal leader’s nuclear energy plan: “Peter Dutton picked up a telescope to search for a vision but is looking through the wrong end.”

The Prime Minister said his government had a record of management he was proud of, offering to build on the achievements in childcare, aged care, real wage rises and with manufacturing as the centrepiece of a second term vision.

“You can’t fix everything in one term but we are delivering progress,” Mr Albanese said.

“(But) the choice is simple. We understand people are doing it tough but it would have been tougher if Dutton had gotten his way, real wages wouldn’t have increased … there wouldn’t have been energy bill relief.

“On housing, he opposed all the measures we have done … And he has a history of savage cuts.”

While both leaders agree that cost of living will be the central issue of the election, Mr Dutton sees opportunity to restore balance to the social equation, in the belief there will be a strong rejection of identity politics among voters.

This has exposed Mr Dutton to accusations from Labor that he is seeking to inject a brand of Australian “Trumpism” into the campaign.

“I think there is a groundswell of revolt at that (wokism) level,” Mr Dutton said.

“I think it is an issue at the election. I think parents have had a gutful of kids coming home preached to and indoctrinated on all sorts of agendas except maths and English.

“I think there is also a lot of angst in the workplace where people see all sorts of policies and agendas designed to please international investors but make it harder to get a promotion or run a business properly.

“I’ve always believed we could win and win majority government. There was no point going into this season only believing you can win next season’s grand final.”