Australia heads to the polls

Australia’s 2025 election began with a false start.

Everyone was poised and ready to go when a cyclone blew the government’s preferred date – for April 12 – off course.

Instead, Albanese settled for a May 3 polling date with the firing gun finally fired in late March.

There have been announcements about health, vows to cut fuel tax and proposals from each side to fix the country’s housing crisis – but as the campaign dragged on, both leaders struggled to compete for Australia’s attention.

They had to contend with Donald Trump and his sweeping tariffs scheme for headlines, weave their campaigns around Easter, suspend them briefly to mark the Pope’s death, only to revive them ahead of a long weekend most Australians would not have spent thinking about politics.

“It has been hard to cut through… but the major parties have lost the trust of the voters which has amplified their problems of communications,” says John Warhurst, an Emeritus Professor at the Australian National University’s School of Politics.

“The government has been timid and the opposition has been shambolic.”

So now, after five weeks of campaigning, Australia’s 18 million citizens are facing a choice between Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and his rival Peter Dutton, both of whom may need to form the next government by securing the support of independent MPs or minor parties.

Here’s everything you need to know about Australia’s 2025 vote.

Australia has two major parties: the left-leaning Australian Labor Party and the conservative Liberal-National coalition.

The Labor Party’s Anthony Albanese who has been the prime minister since 2022, is running for re-election.

A stalwart of parliament for almost 30 years, he enjoyed a period of broad popularity after coming to power. However, in recent times he has come under pressure over his handling of divisive topics like housing, Indigenous affairs, antisemitism and Islamophobia.

Albanese is being challenged by Peter Dutton, who became head of the Liberal-National coalition after their 2022 defeat. He is contesting his first election as opposition leader.

Known as a staunch conservative, Dutton has years of experience in important ministerial portfolios – like defence and home affairs – but has been a controversial figure at times, particularly on social issues.

Australians do not get to vote for the PM candidates themselves as there is no separate leadership ballot. The leader of the party that receives the most seats in the House of Representatives becomes prime minister.

The cost of living is the biggest concern for many voters.

Since the 2022 election, inflation – which is now slowing – has pushed up the prices of everyday essentials such as food and utilities, leaving many households feeling stretched.

The Albanese government has implemented a string of policies that it says are aimed at providing relief, such as keeping the cost of medications down, and offering tax cuts, energy rebates and rental assistance to those eligible.

However, Australia has raised interest rates 12 times since Albanese was elected in May 2022 – something that is done independently of government but seen to reflect their economic management. That has put additional pressure on borrowers and those with mortgages.

Housing affordability will also be a key issue, with several Australian cities among the most expensive in the world for homebuyers.

Australia’s universal healthcare system, now struggling because of staff shortages and soaring costs, is another major concern for voters. Politicians across the spectrum admit there’s a crisis, with many Australians delaying or skipping care – and both parties have promised billions in additional funding to fix it.

There are also global issues voters will consider, including the US President Donald Trump’s tariffs, and his trade war with China.

Like many other nations, Australia has a close strategic alliance with the US while also maintaining a strong trading relationship with China. The country’s new government will find itself dealing with a very different – and much more unpredictable – world order.

Australia famously has a unique electoral system – and some quirky polling day traditions.

Voting is mandatory for all citizens over 18 and picking up a “democracy sausage” – a barbecued sausage typically served on bread and sold at polling booths – is an election day custom.

Australia uses a preferential voting system, where candidates are ranked in order of preference.

If no candidate wins more than 50% of the vote in the first tally, the votes from the least popular candidates are redistributed, and that process is repeated until someone secures a majority.

In races for the House of Representatives, voters are required to mark a preference down for every single candidate listed on the ballot in their area.

However, in Senate races, voters only need to mark down a designated number of preferences.

In this election, all 150 seats in the House of Representatives will be up for grabs, as well as 40 of the 76 seats in the Senate.

One party needs to win at least 76 seats in the House to form a majority government.

If it cannot do that, it must try to win support from minor parties or independent MPs.

Labor formed a majority government after winning the 2022 election, which delivered the biggest loss for the Liberal Party since its inception.

As it stands, Labor has 78 seats in the House of Representatives, while the coalition has 57, with minor parties and independents splitting the remainder.

But with one House seat abolished, Labor will be stripped of its majority in parliament if it loses just two seats.

In order to form a government in its own right, the coalition will need to win 19 seats, likely including many of those it lost to independent candidates during the 2022 vote.

In both state and federal elections, the vote share for minor parties and independents has been steadily increasing in Australia for decades.

That reached record levels in the 2022 federal election, with one in three Australians casting votes for candidates outside the two major parties.

Once polls close, counting begins right away and results are updated in real time on the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) website – in what is known as an unofficial preliminary counting.

Historically, Australians will know who forms government on election night based off this – and the result will usually be called by media commentators, election experts or even the candidates themselves.

Official results can take days or even weeks to come, as the AEC has to go through a rigorous counting process, counting approximately 18 million ballot papers by hand, including postal and overseas ballot papers.