What we learned, 4 May 2025
With that we’re wrapping up the blog. Before we go, here are the major stories from Sunday:
Several seats remained on a knife-edge on Sunday with the results in many contests too close to call, but with Labor expected to also make inroads into the federal Senate;
Labor added a new name to its tally of significant scalps with the Nationals deputy leader, Perin Davey, expected to lose her Senate seat on Sunday morning;
Anthony Albanese says he has received a number of texts and calls from world leaders after his election win;
The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, has described the election result as beyond the party’s “most optimistic expectations”;
The Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, has lauded federal Labor’s electoral win as “emphatic and historic”;
The Nationals leader David Littleproud, who was re-elected easily, rejected a suggestion that the Coalition’s nuclear policy had anything to do with its defeat;
Recriminations over the Coalition defeat have begun, with SA Liberal senator Alex Antic saying the party should move further to the right;
Liberal moderate NSW senator Andrew Bragg says the Coalition’s road back to relevancy begins with “deeper understanding of modern Australia”;
Labor MP Jeremy Laxale says there is one person to blame for the scale of the Coalition’s loss – Peter Dutton;
Independent MP Zali Steggall said the Liberal party has lost its way and “abandoned the concepts of liberalism”;
Coalition MP Keith Wolahan, who is likely to lose his seat, said releasing policies late in the campaign was a tactical mistake;
Wolahan also said the party will need to “dig deep and think about who we are”;
Independent senator David Pocock says he is “humbled” by the scale of the swing towards him in the ACT;
Environment groups have taken a victory lap framing the Coalition’s crushing electorate defeat as the end of its nuclear ambitions.
The Marine Conservation Society says the Australian government must now do more to protect Australia’s environment.
We’ll pick things up again tomorrow.
Updated
On X, the Liberal candidate for Goldstein, Tim Wilson, has shared this image from the American sports comedy-drama Ted Lasso.
With 79.2% of the vote counted, Wilson is currently neck and neck with teal independent Zoe Daniel, who leads by just 97 votes.
Wilson is hoping the postal votes get him over the line.
— Tim Wilson (@tw4goldstein) May 4, 2025
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Sussan Ley pays tribute to Dutton, says new Liberal leader will be chosen once all results are in
The acting Liberal leader, Sussan Ley, has issued a statement saying the party was reflecting on the “results with humility”:
Firstly, I want to thank the many millions of Australians who voted for the Liberal Party (and National Party) and the thousands of volunteers who supported our campaign.
As Acting Leader of the Liberal Party, and deputy leader for the past three years, I want to pay particular tribute to Peter Dutton and thank him for his 25 years of deeply valued service to our country. He has been an outstanding Member of Parliament, senior Cabinet Minister, Leader of our Party and friend. We wish him, Kirilly, Bec, Harry and Tom all the very best for their future.
She said the parties’ thoughts were with the Liberal members who have lost their seats and the 150 candidates who ran across the country.
The Liberal party would meet to elect a leader and deputy leader of the opposition once the full results are in.
Finally, I thank our many dedicated Liberal and National Party members, Australia-wide, for supporting us so well during this campaign and at this time.
Updated
Simon Birmingham says modern Liberal party ‘not seen as remotely liberal’
Former finance minister Simon Birmingham has taken to LinkedIn to call out the Liberal party model for being broken.
Birmingham wrote:
It must start with the raison d’être. Why do we have a Liberal Party and how is it relevant in 2025 and beyond?
The broad church model of a party that successfully melds liberal and conservative thinking is clearly broken. The Liberal Party is not seen as remotely liberal and the brand of conservatism projected is clearly perceived as too harsh and out of touch.
Quoting Theresa May to the UK’s Conservative party back in 2002, he wrote: “Our base is too narrow and so, occasionally, are our sympathies. You know what some people call us: the nasty party.”
Australians still seek all of the freedoms that liberalism stands for. Freedoms of belief, worship, family, enterprise and ownership. Indeed, they embrace more freedoms than ever in a society where people enjoy more rights to equality of opportunity and exercise those rights through a wide diversity of social, family and business constructs.
Yet in 2025 the Liberal Party is seen as grudging if not intolerant of the way some exercise those freedoms.
He said the party needed to focus on women and called for the party to embrace gender quotas.
He also called for the new leader to embrace citizen assemblies, reconcile itself on “budget sustainability, climate change and national security”, and embrace modern campaigning.
The Liberal Party has failed to learn lessons from the past and if it fails to do so in the face of this result then its future viability to govern will be questioned.
Updated
Liberals Against Nuclear calls on party to axe ‘disastrous’ policy
The group of Liberal supporters who led a campaign against Peter Dutton’s signature energy policy have called on the party to drop the plan in the wake of the massive defeat.
Liberals Against Nuclear spokesperson Andrew Gregson said:
This result sees the Liberals facing a generational wipeout. Only significant and immediate change can chart a pathway back. Dropping the disastrous nuclear policy right now would demonstrate they are prepared to listen, learn and act.
Saturday’s election results are simply the latest and most compelling evidence that the party faithful never signed up for nuclear and would not follow Mr Dutton down this path.
If we continue down this path, we’re not just risking another electoral defeat – we’re risking the very identity of the Liberal Party as founded by Robert Menzies.
Updated
ABC tops election night TV ratings
The ABC was the most popular destination for election viewing last night, with its top election program (between 8.30pm and 10pm) attracting a national average audience of 2.4 million viewers.
According to official ratings data from OzTAM, the ABC’s broadcast and ABC iview audience dominated prime-time viewing with a free-to-air total TV prime-time share of 48.4%.
Seven News had 580,000 viewers and was the highest rating commercial TV station.
Seven says it was the first network to call the result, declaring prime minister Anthony Albanese the winner at 8.08pm.
Nine News was in third spot with 527,000 viewers.
The ABC News website and app had more than 5.7 million users across the day and almost 500,000 additional users via Apple News.
Updated
Labor MP Julian Hill used his Sunday morning to rub a little salt in the Coalition’s wounds.
In a post to social media, Hill highlighted how the Liberal party had secured only 13 of the 37 seats won by the Coalition in the House of Representatives.
The Nats and LNP are doing relatively well.
Barnaby Joyce for Leader of the Opposition?
Updated
‘Women empowering women’ behind Labor’s success in Queensland, Anika Wells says
Labor’s Anika Wells says gender played a “critical” role in the party securing its historic win at Saturday’s election.
Speaking at a park in the seat of Dickson, which Ali France won from Peter Dutton, alongside seven other newly elected Labor women from the sunshine state – including one senator and six likely to win lower house seats – the minister for sports and member for Lilley says the Albanese government inspired women to join and vote for them.
It is such a powerful picture that you see here. Not just that we chose to preselect women, but these women represent their communities.
Wells says young women like Emma Comer, the candidate for Petrie, saw themselves represented in what was the first ever majority women government and the first ever 50-50 male-female cabinet.
She saw herself in that, she saw the possibilities for someone like herself in that and she put herself forward in a situation that she may have never done before.
Women, empowering women. Women legislating for women. Women working for women. This is the result.
Along with France, Comer and Wells is Brisbane’s Madonna Jarrett, Bonner’s Kara Cook, Moreton’s Julie-Ann Campbell, Griffith’s Renee Coffey and senator Corinne Mulholland.
Updated
Zoe Daniel walks back claim of victory in Goldstein
Independent candidate Zoe Daniel is sounding a note of caution on Sunday after claiming victory in the seat of Goldstein on Saturday night.
In a post to social media, Daniel said it would be some days before the final count will be known.
The result in Goldstein is obviously close and it will be some days before the result is confirmed.
I again thank the voters of Goldstein for their support as well as the many volunteers who worked tirelessly on my campaign.
This electoral race is personal for her opponent, Tim Wilson, who was quoted by The Age on Saturday night as saying he believed he would get over the line on postal votes which were being returned in his favour at a rate of two to one.
He said:
Daniel is welcome to claim whatever she wants – it is the voters that will decide the result.
It’ll be tight. The whole nation went in one direction. We went in the other direction. I’m pretty proud of that. Succour if I fail, but I genuinely think I’ll get there.
Updated
Independents ‘can’t be ignored’ in coming parliament, Gee says
Gee says the strong swing the independents received showed “people have had a gutful of the spin”.
In the end there was just so much major party advertising from the Nationals. It was just an avalanche. And I think in a cost of living crisis, people were seeing those massive amounts of money being spent on TV, on signage, everything. And I think a lot of people in the end thought this is just obscene.
And they were just seeing the same old soundbites coming in. And it wasn’t real and genuine community connection at the end of the day. And so I think that made the difference. I think we ran a very grassroots campaign. We ran it on the smell of an oily rag.
And I think that people could see in communities around our region that we were genuinely trying to offer alternative policies and actually help people and make life better for the people that we represent.
Gee said he did not believe the Labor majority would dilute the power of the crossbench and that, in fact, he expected a “very dynamic crossbench”.
I think the fact that the independents have been returned with such decisive results, I think adds weight to the voices that we bring to the parliament, because we’ve shown that we can stand up to the mightiest of machines and that we can defeat them, and that we will not be ignored and we can’t be ignored.
Updated
Former Nationals MP predicts party will have leadership challenge soon
Andrew Gee says the failure by the Coalition to provide any real details of its nuclear plan, particularly in communities like Lithgow where it wanted to build them, contributed to their defeat as it left people guessing whether it was “fact or fiction”.
For example, the Coalition didn’t tell the people of Lithgow that they were actually planning to store the nuclear waste in Lithgow. They totally ignored that.
And then when I actually got that information out of it, they started saying, ‘oh, well, you can store it in Coke cans,’ and all this sort of stuff like little, little canisters, like Coke cans. It was all very strange. There was never any detail across it, and people were just in the end, thinking, is this a real policy or is it not a real policy?
Like the Libs, the National party will be expected to have a leadership challenge.
Make no mistake. The spin will be all, ‘yes, the National party had a good campaign and everything’s hunky dory, And aren’t the Liberals hopeless?’
But the reality is the challenge will be on if the numbers are there. Mark my words. I’ve seen this movie many times before.
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Nationals leader deserves equal share of blame for election loss, Gee says
The entire Coalition campaign has been “truly disastrous”, Gee says.
I mean, it’s been an epic wipeout. It gives me no joy to say it. You have to remember that the Liberal party and the National party are one party in Queensland, so they were working very closely together. And I think that they’ve got major problems.
And I’ve been listening to some of the commentary that’s been coming out today, including on your show, that this was more a city swing and it didn’t really have anything to do with the nationals. It had a lot to do with the nationals.
Gee said Nationals leader David Littleproud was partly responsible for the wipeout as he was “openly crowing that he was the one that told Peter Dutton to go nuclear”. Another figure who deserves some blame, Gee said, was Barnaby Joyce, who had been “sidelined and put into witness protection”.
I mean, the whole campaign was very strange in many ways out here on the ground. It was a nasty campaign. There were all sorts of – I won’t even go into it. There was a lot of skulduggery going on out here.
Updated
Andrew Gee reflects on ‘David and Goliath’ battle against former party for Calare
Independent Andrew Gee says he is “absolutely delighted” with the result of his “David and Goliath” campaign.
Gee quit the National party in December 2022 over the Coalition’s decision to oppose the Indigenous voice to parliament in the referendum to run as an independent.
We’re absolutely delighted with the result. And I just feel very humbled and very grateful that the communities of our region have decided to return me as their local member. It’s the honour of my life. And now the work continues of fighting and delivering for the Central West of New South Wales.
Speaking on the ABC, Gee said that his former party’s response to the voice was one reason he left but “wasn’t the only reason”, saying the Nationals were “simply not the party that it used to be” and that “it’s not truly representing country people any more”.
It was a very difficult campaign. There was a lot of spite in the campaign, and in many ways it was a very nasty campaign. So we were massively outspent. The National party would have spent between $1.5m and $2m campaigning for this seat.
I mean, we would have spent a fraction of that in terms of the personnel on the booths. We basically were able to get one or two people on each booth. Community members. We had everyone from all walks of life there. Vietnam veterans, social workers, everyone who we’ve been working with came out to help us.
Updated
Fremantle independent says seat remains too close to call
The independent candidate running for the WA seat of Fremantle is not giving up the fight, saying the count is too close to call to concede just yet.
Kate Hulett said in a statement that her campaign sought to offer a “positive alternative to the same old politics”.
Our campaign has inspired, engaged and connected with the community in a way the major parties can’t. We campaigned hard on the North West Shelf, on AUKUS and on real solutions to the housing crisis, and people went for it in droves.
Of course, this is no mean feat after nearly a century of Labor incumbency, but the community sentiment has moved in a way that is palpable and permanent. We offered change, and people have voted for it – they want to take back power from the politicians to get meaningful action and better outcomes.
From the start of this campaign, I said that Dutton was finished and that the real danger was an Albanese government without any pressure, and here we are. Just like at the WA election, the count is too close to call and may be several days before we have an outcome. But we have already won in so many ways – Fremantle has shown what is possible when we do politics differently.
Hulett remains in a tight battle with Labor’s Josh Wilson.
Updated
Minerals Council silent on Albanese election win
Of all the groups reacting to the election result, the Minerals Council of Australia has been notably silent on the re-election of the Albanese government – likely because the industry association lent a senior advisor to the Coalition campaign.
The catastrophic loss raises questions about future relations between the industry group and the Albanese government. Notably, the MCA was previously known as the “Australian Mining Industry Council” but changed its name in a rebrand partly because its leadership was so hostile to Indigenous rights in the wake of the Mabo decision that it irreparably soured relations with the Keating government.
There is, however, one hard rock mining industry group that has been vocal on Sunday – the Chamber of Minerals and Energy WA (CME) who congratulated the PM and said it looked forward to the government following through on its $1.2bn commitment to establish a Critical Minerals Reserve.
It also made clear environmental reform in favour of industry was still very much on its agenda, noting the government’s previous willingness to “go back to the drawing board” on its landmark nature positive reforms. This occurred after Albanese personally intervened to shelve the reforms at the eleventh hour to prevent a deal with the Greens.
CME chief executive officer Rebecca Tomkinson said “streamlining and accelerating Federal environmental assessments goes to the heart of reversing the recent decay in Australia’s investment fundamentals”.
Environmental law reform is long overdue but must deliver on the stated goal of improving outcomes for both the environment and for business. The only way to achieve that is through early, open and frequent consultation with all stakeholders.
Tomkinson said the government’s Future Made In Australia policy was “important and welcome” it “cannot compensate for flawed fundamentals”.
WA has an abundance of the minerals and energy the world needs to navigate both the energy transition and rising geopolitical instability,” she said.
But we’re not the only place that produces commodities like iron ore, LNG and rare earths.
Investors have options. As a nation, we need to start acting like we’re serious about competing for their capital.
Updated
A few photos of the leaders as Saturday night drew to a close.
Updated
Malaysian PM congratulates Albanese
The Malaysian prime minister, Anwar Ibrahim, has congratulated Anthony Albanese on his electoral victory saying “that the result was called so swiftly on election night speaks volumes – a clear and confident verdict from the Australian people”.
Australia plays a pivotal role in the Asia-Pacific. The Albanese government’s attention to south-east Asia during its first term did not go unnoticed, and we hope that spirit of engagement will continue.
As our region faces new tests and transformations, we look forward to working together to uphold stability, enhance resilience, and shape a future of shared prosperity.
Updated
Environmentalists dance on grave of Coalition's nuclear policy
Environment groups opposed to the Coalition’s plan for an atomic Australia have taken a victory lap around the party’s defeat at the election saying voters had delivered a clear rejection of nuclear power.
Dave Sweeney, nuclear free campaigner with the Australian Conservation Foundation said in a joint statement the door on nuclear power is “not just closed, it is welded shut”.
Nuclear power is too slow, too risky and too costly – in every way.
The economic, environmental and community advantages of renewables have been embraced by Australians. Today we are nearly halfway there with around 45% of Australia’s electricity coming from renewables. Our job – and the governments mandate ‒ is to speedily, sensibly and sustainably advance the renewable energy future.
It’s time to stop playing politics with nuclear distractions and delays. It’s time to get on with the clean energy transition, effective climate action and building an energy future that is renewable, not radioactive.
Dr Jim Green, national nuclear campaigner with Friends of the Earth said there was “overwhelming evidence” Coalition’s nuclear policy played a role in its electoral defeat.
Polling by the Liberals Against Nuclear group demonstrated the nuclear policy’s drag on the Coalition’s vote in marginal seats and across the nation.
Forty-six percent of voters in Peter Dutton’s electorate of Dickson said they were less likely to vote for Mr Dutton because of the nuclear power policy.
In 2007, the Coalition took a pro-nuclear power policy to the election but suffered a large swing against it and lost the election with leader John Howard losing his seat. Yesterday, the Coalition suffered a large swing against it and lost the election with leader Peter Dutton losing his seat.
The lesson should be clear. The Coalition’s nuclear power policy must be buried once and for all.
Updated
Oil and gas industry congratulates Albanese, takes a swipe at Greens
Australia’s oldest and most enduring oil and gas industry association has congratulated Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on his government’s re-election, saying it “looks forward to continuing to work with the government on necessary reforms”.
Australian Energy Producers chief executive Samantha McCulloch said “continued investment in new gas exploration” was needed to ensure a “reliable and affordable gas supply”.
We look forward to working with the Albanese government on advancing the shared goal of boosting Australian gas supply to ensure reliable and affordable energy for Australian homes and businesses, as outlined in the Future Gas Strategy and Australian Energy Producers’ election policy platform.
McCulloch said the government needed to prioritise implementing actions from the Future Gas Strategy and address the regulatory delays and uncertainty in the environmental approvals system.
McCulloch also thanked the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, and the Coalition for the support given to the industry and said the result also showed Australians’ “do not support the Greens’ reckless policies, including a ban on new gas projects”.
With cost of living top of mind for voters, the Greens cannot be allowed to continue to hold legislation to ransom in the Senate.
Updated
Government must protect Australia's environment, Marine Conservation Society says
The Albanese government must to do more to protect Australia’s oceans, reefs and wildlife now it has won the election with the next term of government “both an opportunity and a test”, the Australian Marine Conservation Society says.
AMCS chief executive Paul Gamblin offered congratulations to prime minister Anthony Albanese and the Labor party, but said its next term “must not repeat the mistakes of the last one”.
The prime minister declared that this was an election about Australian values. What could be more core to our values than stepping up to take much better care of our incredible environment?
We stand at a crossroads. Australia’s oceans, among the most biodiverse on the planet, face escalating threats — from the clear and present danger of climate change, habitat loss and pollution, to unsustainable fishing and industrialisation of the coast.
This election result is both an opportunity and a test. The previous Labor government began with momentum and promises on climate and nature laws but lost its way. We are already halfway through the critical decade. The time for incrementalism is over. It’s time we consider future generations with the resolve that deserves.
Labor was re-elected on the promise of progress, and Australians expect and deserve strong national environment laws and real action to curb fossil fuel expansion. This must be the term where promises are kept.
The dual climate and nature crises are existential — and if we are serious about securing prosperity, progress and our way of life, as the prime minister outlined in his victory speech, the government must move fast and with ambition for all Australians.
Our world famous coral reefs were bleaching on both the east and west coasts as underwater bushfires raged, all during the election campaign, starkly illustrating the climate crisis unfolding in real time. Meanwhile, polling showed climate action remained a top concern for millions of Australians.
Updated
Andrew Bolt says it was the voters who were wrong as Sky News commentators grieve Dutton election loss
It was a result that Andrew Bolt was not expecting – and could not countenance.
By 9.46pm the rightwing commentator had penned a piece on the Herald Sun blaming the Australian electorate for the Coalition loss.
“No, the voters aren’t always right. This time they were wrong,” Bolt wrote.
The reason for the loss? It was because the Liberal party “refused to fight the ‘culture wars’”.
A little over an hour earlier on Sky News Australia, he had recognised it was all over for the Liberal leader that he had dubbed Scary Guy. He was unsentimental about the loss.
Peter Dutton was comprehensively beaten by Anthony Albanese, Bolt said, because everyone agreed the prime minister looked like a “nice easygoing guy” compared with Dutton.
For more on this story, read the full write up by Guardian Australia’s Amanda Meade:
Updated
Peter Dutton to blame for scale of Liberal loss, Laxale says
Re-elected Labor MP Jerome Laxale had one answer when asked what mattered most to his constituents in Bennelong:
Peter Dutton.
Laxale, the first-term MP, has been returned to Bennelong with what looks like a thumping majority around 60-40. His ultra-marginal seat turned notionally Liberal after a boundary redistribution, but Laxale - praised by several Labor people in the last 18 hours as one of their strongest and best campaigners - has turned the seat, formerly held by John Howard, safely Labor.
He joined PM Albanese for a coffee this morning in Leichhardt. That Laxale was with Albanese in his first appearance after election night shows how big Labor thinks this result is.
Asked for his election analysis on the way out of the cafe, Laxale pointed to Liberal “flip flops” on policies like nuclear, work from home and cost of living as major negatives for Dutton’s campaign.
They had no vision for housing. This is what cost the Liberals in Bennelong, and we had the opposites. We had plans, we worked hard, we had conversations, and we didn’t try and buy the seat.
Asked by a reporter what mattered most to his voters, Laxale simply said “Peter Dutton”.
We went to the election with the delivery of the last three years, but there’s also more to do. We acknowledge that there’s more to do on cost of living, housing, and I think people backed us.
Updated
Victoria confounds Liberal hopes of revival by swinging further to Labor
Fears of a Labor bloodbath in Victoria in the federal election were utterly confounded, with the Liberals recording a statewide swing against them and the party all but certain to lose several seats.
Late on Saturday night, according to the Australian Electoral Commission, Labor had won 23 of the state’s 38 seats while the Coalition was at six – three held by the Nationals and three by the Liberals. Independents had three, with six still in doubt. The Liberals had seen a swing of nearly 2% away from them.
The Liberals had campaigned hard in the state, running advertising tying Anthony Albanese to the long-serving and poor-polling state Labor government, led by Jacinta Allan, in the hope of clawing back outer suburban seats such as Aston, Chisholm, Dunkley and McEwen, and gaining seats such as Bruce, Hawke and Gorton.
Even senior members of Victorian Labor expected a swing away from the party of about 1.5%-2.5% – with some members of the state caucus actively considering a leadership challenge against Allan if several seats were lost.
But instead, there was a swing of about 1.8% towards the party, on top of the 54.8% two-party-preferred result in 2022, itself a high-water mark.
Labor was expected to hold Chisholm, Dunkley and Aston, as well as winning the seats of Deakin and Menzies from the Liberals.
In Deakin, one of the most marginal seats going into the election, Labor’s Matt Gregg was expected to defeat the Coalition housing spokesperson, Michael Sukkar, while in Menzies, Labor’s Gabriel Ng was on track to take the seat from the Liberal MP Keith Wolahan.
For more, read the full report by Guardian Australia’s Benita Kolovos and Henry Belot:
Updated
Allan was about the federal seat of Bendigo – her hometown – which has bucked the state trend and recorded a 10.5% swing away from Labor MP Lisa Chesters.
The premier denies the swing is a reflection on her association with the seat and instead credits a “cashed-up campaign” by the Nationals. Allan said:
The results in Bendigo are still too close to call. When you look at the campaign that Lisa Chesters has ran, which was focused on working people and families. Whereas the National party well, they ran a massively cashed up campaign, run from outside of Bendigo, importing people in from Queensland and they did everything they could to distance themselves from Peter Dutton and the Liberal party ... and indeed, the Liberal party came fourth in Bendigo.
Allan says federal Labor had adopted many Victorian policies, including investing in healthcare and free Tafe and kinder:
Our focus on women’s health was something that’s been picked up by federal Labor and has been expanded across the nation, delivering free Tafe - that started here in Victoria - that’s been taken nationwide.
She said:
The results yesterday, they’re not despite what’s going on here in Victoria. They’re because of what’s going on here in Victoria.
Updated
Victorian premier lauds Albanese’s ‘emphatic’ win
The Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, held a press conference at the Northern hospital in Epping, in Melbourne’s north earlier this morning to mark the beginning of an $813m redevelopment of its emergency department.
She began by congratulating the prime minister Anthony Albanese on what she said was a “historic and emphatic” election win:
What we saw with yesterday’s results, Australians and Victorians ... said no to Peter Dutton and the Liberals’ cuts. They said yes to ... being able to make sure you could get in and see a GP, investments in healthcare, like what we’re marking here today at the Northern hospital, they most clearly said no to those nuclear plans and instead said yes to cheaper renewable energy.
In Victoria, there has been a swing of about 1.8% towards Labor, on top of the 54.8% two-party-preferred result in 2022, itself a high-water mark. This was despite fears - within the party - that Allan’s unpopularity would drag the vote down.
She said the result showed Victorians backed the government’s plans to build more homes, the long-awaited train line to Melbourne airport and the Suburban Rail Loop. Labor held Aston and won Deakin and Menzies - three seats that pass through the line in the eastern suburbs.
Allan said:
Victorians and Australians said an emphatic no to those blockers and said yes to building more homes, building the airport rail, building the suburban rail loop, and that also is a big yes to supporting the rights of workers, and protecting those workers, which we know are always under threat from a Liberal government.
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Socialists aim for national expansion after positive result
The Australian Socialists are “absolutely” thinking of expanding nationally after a decent showing in the seats they ran in, Jordan van den Lamb says.
Lamb, known popularly by his social media handle, Purple Pingers, is a renters rights campaigner who ran for the Senate at the 2025 federal election.
The party edged close to double digits in parts of Victoria and picked up a share of votes in the Senate.
Speaking to 6 News Australia, Lamb said the minor party, started seven years ago, is “absolutely” thinking about whether it can expand beyond Victoria.
We have no way near hit our ceiling just yet, we’ve only got room to grow and we’ll continue to grow.
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Albanese laps up his victory in Leichhardt
After finishing up a coffee with his supporters in Leichhardt, PM Albanese has ducked into the front bar of the cafe and started scooping some gelato.
Doling out a few cones and cups of the sweet treat, Albanese jokes “every Italian knows how to do this”. (or at least that’s vaguely what it sounded like, the bustling cafe is packed with patrons craning their necks for a look.)
He tells one punter that last night’s election result was “humbling”. Albanese then jokes that they “scooped up more than a few” seats.
He bids the onlookers goodbye with a “ciao”.
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Major parties taking voters for granted, Yee says
Independent Stella Yee, who didn’t make it across the line, tells the ABC that the major parties have been taking voters for granted “for a long time”.
Yee says Labor’s response to the siege on Gaza has played a role in her decision to run as an independent, along with its continued efforts to open more gas fields and coal mines.
It is the same old same old that have letters to this point. People have voted number one for me, sending a message that the two parties are just not good enough. A lot of our systems like sending gas for free and not charging multinationals tax and all of that, those are not correct settings for us. So we are sending this message.
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Pocock wants housing treated as ‘fundamental human right’
Australians want housing treated as a human right, not an investment vehicle or wealth creation tool, Pocock says.
Do we want, going forward, housing to continue to be an investment vehicle, a wealth creation tool or are we going to start to turn the ship around and say no, this is a fundamental human right, something that everyone in our community should be able to access and afford?
I’m hearing from Canberrans that they wanted to be more of the human right than an investment vehicle.
Pocock says “neither major party” has been talking about structural reform and the need to deal with negative gearing and capital gains tax discount.
I will continue to push for really sensible solutions because if you talk to experts, you actually have to tackle the root causes of these challenges. You can’t just keep tinkering as things get worse and worse and worse, and try to sell that to the electorate as a way to get re-elected.
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Pocock calls for big reforms: ‘People are sick of tinkering’
The balance of power is not necessary to make an impact for your community, Senator David Pocock says, and parliament has to do better “when it comes to overarching issues”.
From housing to health, climate, cost of living – people are sick of tinkering. My hope is that the Labor government after a huge victory will actually use that to change our country and the future of our nation for the better.
The senator said he wanted the NACC strengthened, gambling banned and lobbying reforms passed.
You have to hit the ground running as a territory senator. Those of the big things I have been hearing from Canberrans about, and it will be no surprise. Across the country, people are grappling with the growing intergenerational inequality.
The senator nominated housing as a critical issue, saying “our housing system is not working for us” but that the issue goes beyond housing to “the future of our country.
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Pocock ‘very humbled’ after very strong Senate result
The independent senator David Pocock is speaking to the ABC where he says he is “very tired but really humbled” after a massive 20.85% swing to him in the ACT.
I think we have seen across the country community backed independents doing well. More Australians seeing what our politics can be. A constructive politics that is connected to the community.
My commitment to the last election was to be accessible and accountable to the people of the ACT and to work every day for them and to ultimately vote on their behalf. That is not my vote in the Senate. It belongs to people in the ACT. Something I take very seriously.
And my hope is that we will continue to see that grow, people see the benefit of people going to parliament and engage with good faith on ideas issues regardless of who puts those issues into the parliament.
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Albanese joined by Gallagher, Laxale and Inner West mayor at cafe
Joined by finance minister Katy Gallagher and Bennelong MP Jerome Laxale, the re-elected PM is sitting with a small table of supporters in the cafe’s back garden area, including friend and Inner West mayor Darcy Byrne.
Albanese gives a big shoutout to Laxale, who won Bennelong at the last election and then saw it turn notionally Liberal after a boundary redistribution.
Laxale, backed by many in Labor as one of their strongest shoe-leather campaigners with door knocking and face-to-face ground game, says he’s on a margin of 60-40 – in a seat the Liberals had strongly boasted of taking.
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Anthony Albanese claims a piece of history as scale of Labor victory stuns raucous crowd
It might have been the surprise packet of the night, but Labor picked up as early as January that it had a sniff in Dickson.
Early in the evening – hours before Anthony Albanese raised workers’ rights, housing, gender equality, childcare, the NDIS and Indigenous reconciliation as the priorities of his second-term Labor government – the hundreds-strong crowd at his election night party grew round-eyed as results from Dickson started pouring in on the television screens.
Amid unexpected large swings in seats Labor had barely talked about in the campaign – Banks, Hughes and Bonner – the crowd turned agog as big numbers started going their way in Dickson.
People in the room remembered that Peter Dutton had trailed early in 2022, before coming back to win. In 2025, Labor people had briefly whispered about taking Dickson, with a major campaign effort and serious heavy-hitters deployed there for numerous visits – but late in the piece, expectations were tamped down.
As the ABC’s Antony Green called Ali France to win over Dutton, a cheer erupted from the Labor red-shirted faithful that was nearly as raucous and joyful as when the veteran psephologist called the election itself for Albanese.
For more on Labor’s landslide win, read the full report by Guardian Australia’s Josh Butler:
Albanese says his mum would be ‘very proud’
Anthony Albanese says he “feels for Peter Dutton”, saying he was “generous” in his comments.
I wish him and his family all the best. It is a tough business, politics. It would have been a tough night for Peter. But he was generous, he did mention my mum, and it was very kind of him as well as mentioning Jodie and Nathan. And that was a very kind thing to do.
I used to visit this coffee shop with my mum. I grew up just down the road here. And I did certainly think of her last night as well. She would be very proud.
Finishing up, Albanese promised his government “will be a disciplined, orderly government in our second term, just like we had been in our first”.
Afterwards, he sat down at a table with Labor MPs and staff for coffee.
“So what did you all do last night?” He asked to much laughter.
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Albanese says he's had calls and texts with world leaders after election win
Anthony Albanese is in the outdoor courtyard of Leichhardt’s Bar Italia, which is packed with media and supporters.
It’s hard to hear, but he is telling reporters “the Australian people voted for unity rather than division.”
My job this year is to represent Australia’s national interest, and that is what I’ll be doing. And the next thing I will be doing is going to Canberra.
Asked which world leaders have called to congratulate him, Albanese said:
I have spoken to a range of people and I had phone conversations, the first person to call me was my friend James Marape, who I did the Kokoda Track with on Anzac Day last year. He called me at about 7:45am.
Marape is president of Papua New Guinea.
Albanese said he has spoken to New Zealand prime minister Christopher Luxon this morning and had “some good text messages” from figures such as Emmanuel Macron, Keir Starmer and a “range of others”.
The PM has some phone conversations booked in this afternoon with the president of Indonesia and the Ukrainian president, who Albanese pledged to continue to back.
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Albanese out and about in Sydney’s inner west
Anthony Albanese is up and about in Leichhardt after what was, presumably, a late night, and he is getting a warm welcome.
The prime minister is greeting supporters and the waiting media, shaking hands and taking selfies.
It’s unclear what he’s saying – the audio is poor – but it looks like packed.
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Anthony Albanese secures ‘win for the ages’ for Labor at 2025 federal election
Anthony Albanese has secured a stunning federal election win while delivering a devastating result for the Coalition that cost Peter Dutton his own seat.
As counting continued on Saturday night, Labor had secured a significantly improved majority with Albanese becoming the first prime minister to win a second term since John Howard in 2004.
“Today, the Australian people have voted for Australian values, for fairness, aspiration and opportunity for all,” Albanese told a raucous crowd of Labor supporters at Canterbury-Hurlstone Park RSL Club in Sydney’s inner-west.
“Australians have chosen to face global challenges the Australian way, looking after each other while building for the future.”
As of 10.30pm, the ABC had Labor on 87 seats – an increase of nine – while the Coalition were on 39 seats, a massive 18-seat collapse.
Some 12 seats were in doubt.
For more of the Guardian Australia’s coverage of last night’s election result, read the full report by Dan Jervis-Brady:
Liberal senator says Coalition 'sent the troops into battle without ammunition'
The rightwing SA Liberal senator Alex Antic has ripped into the Coalition’s campaign in an interview on Sky News.
Antic said:
It think it simply didn’t have policy that resonated.
Many of the policies were, in my mind, reminiscent of a mobile phone contract – you know, for the first 12 months, you’ll get something free.
I mean, in many cases, I feel very sorry for some of our excellent candidates, particularly here in South Australia, who’ve done a power of work trying to get real people back into politics.
But unfortunately, we’ve sent the troops into battle without ammunition.
Asked about the future direction of the party, Antic said the Liberal branch in SA – of which he exerts enormous influence – was a template for a nationwide revival.
He said the party must “make the Liberal party great again”, echoing Donald Trump’s campaign slogan.
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Federal election state of play – and the seats yet to be called
We’re not expecting much in the way of counting today as the AEC usually spends Sunday sorting and transporting ballot papers for fresh counts.
So don’t expect many updates on still undecided seats today.
However, here’s where we’re currently at with the seats projected as won by each party, and the number of seats for which the ABC has that party leading as at 10am Sunday morning:
The party leading in quite a few of the undecided seats could well change as they’re either very close or the final order of the candidates for two candidate preferred counts is uncertain, so we can’t rely on the totals too much just yet. However, Labor is on track for at least 85 seats, and the final tally could well be more.
The Greens have suffered quite a setback here too, as they currently only lead in two seats. In 2022 they won four seats, so they are looking at a loss of two seats as things stand, despite their national primary vote actually remaining steady compared with 2022.
Here’s the full list of seats we’re still waiting on more votes to be counted for before making a call: Brisbane, Calwell, Forde, Fremantle, Griffith, Longman, Menzies, Richmond, Wills, Melbourne, Ryan, Bean, Bradfield, Curtin, Fowler, Goldstein, Bullwinkel, Flinders, Forrest, La Trobe, Monash, Fadden, Cowper
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Steggall pushes back on labelling independents as Climate 200-backed
Steggall is asked by Speers whether the independents may form a bloc or party to gain more influence and clout within the parliament.
Steggall pushes back on this, noting that Speers is “repeatedly referring to who we’re backed by”.
I should note at no point do we refer to the Liberal party as being backed by Gina Rinehart or what the funding they come from. So even when the ABC refers to independents as Climate Change 200 backed independents that’s inappropriate, if it’s not going to be matched with other candidates.
The independent MP is being asked about some level of coordination that clearly takes place between the various independents.
I think there’s also great power in flexibility, and so our current model works very well. We have worked very respectfully together. We’re very aligned on values. We want to see merit-based policies, we want to hold the government of the day accountable, we want scrutiny and accountability but we also want to be able to represent our communities above all.
I think there’s something a little broken with the current party system where on the Labor side, they are stuck with their rules, they cannot cross the floor and so communities will at times be very disenfranchised.
Or the Liberal Party where very few cross the floor because they face disendorsement and don’t get re-elected. So I think there is - I think the world has moved on from that traditional convention of how we see political parties now. It’s maybe time for a new model and I think that’s what community Independents offer.
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Labor has ‘no excuses’ not to be more ambitious on climate targets, Steggall says
Australians rejected “adversarial populism” at last night’s election, Zali Steggall says, adding she is “very prepared to work collaboratively, positively” with the government on “every issue”.
I think that is what Australians endorsed last night. They’re saying no to that adversarial populism that we have seen from [the] Peter Dutton-led Coalition, but also from the Greens on a number of issues.
I think more respectful, positive community independents have held their ground or increased. And I think that’s what Australians are looking for.
The result also means the government has “no excuses to be not more ambitious”, especially on its 2035 emissions targets.
They have a clear opportunity to be more ambitious on climate change, on our transition.
Steggall says the government needs to “start preparing Australia” for an increasingly climate-shocked world by “investing in our resilience”.
I have proposed a climate resilience plan. I look forward to discussing it with - if it’s Chris Bowen or whatever, or the Prime Minister, I think we have to start safeguarding Australia, protecting them from the risks ahead.
I agree with some of the comments Jim Chalmers just made - we need an innovation-driven Australia. Our economy needs to grow. We need to embrace the future.
If there’s one message that was clear last night – Australians aren’t for going backwards. We want to keep progressing and a positive future and stability, but we need to start embracing the new world. I don’t think the Liberal party and the LNP are listening to the Australian people. They still do not have a coherent climate policy.
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Steggall on Liberals: ‘They have abandoned concepts of liberalism’
Zali Steggall says whether or not the Liberals will be able to reclaim the seats they have lost at some point in the future depends on when they are “capable of listening”.
I saw some grabs of Jacinta Price last night and my indication would be no.
What’s missing is they have abandoned concepts of liberalism. Where they are now is a conservative party, number two on most of their ballot-papers was One Nation followed by Trumpets.
I actually had many voters come to me offended, saying they were previously moderate Liberal voters. Absolutely no way were they, one, voting for Peter Dutton, and b, they were offended at the idea that the second preference went to One Nation.
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Steggall takes aim at rightwing third-party groups
The independent MP Zali Steggall says attacks on independents during the federal election campaign were “vicious”, with a constellation of far right groups, some directed by ex-Liberals, seeking to target independent candidates.
What we saw was the growth of those third-party actor organisations. So we saw in the referendum Advance Australia who ironically started with me back in Warringah in 2019.
But they have grown in confidence and they have given way to splinter groups. You have got, you know, Jason Falinski, an ex-Liberal MP behind the Australians for Prosperity, you got Better Australia, Advance.
You got a lot of these attack fronts for the Liberal party with a lot of money from fossil fuel, it is, attacking in these communities.
Still, Steggall says the incumbent independents have been able to hang on in their seats and even expand in some some places.
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Who is Ali France, the Labor candidate who has unseated Peter Dutton in Dickson?
Ali France, the Labor candidate who is the first person to unseat an opposition leader at an election, is a disability advocate, former journalist and world champion para-athlete.
She has defeated the Liberal leader, Peter Dutton, at her third effort at the seat of Dickson, in Brisbane’s west.
For the past 24 years, it has been held by Dutton, now the leader of the Liberal party and opposition leader. She is the daughter of former Labor Queensland MP Peter Lawlor.
France lost her eldest son, Henry, to leukaemia last year. She has another son, Zac, who was with her when she was involved in an accident that led to her losing a leg in 2011.
Kallangur Memorial Bowls Club was packed with scores of supporters – including state opposition leader and former premier Steven Miles, a longtime supporter. The raucous crowd cheered as she delivered an acknowledgement of country at the start of her 18 minute victory speech – Dutton, a conservative, had opposed the 2023 referendum on a voice to parliament and described acknowledgments as “overdone” during the campaign.
For more on this story, read the full report by the Guardian Australia’s Andrew Messenger:
Keith Wolahan declines to weigh in on leadership speculation after this devastating loss, saying “that’s not a choice for me”, but a decision for the party room.
Wolahan waves off a question implying that his name may be on the list for the future leadership of the party:
Because of where I’m at with my seat, it’d be no surprise I’m not on any of those phone calls right now. But we’ll see how the count goes. Again, I respect all of those names, and there may be others that aren’t on the list. I’m not going to inject myself into that discussion.
He is also asked about his plans if he loses his seat, specifically whether he will come back in three years time. He says he plan to spend the rest of the day with his daughter for her birthday and “then we’ll rebuild and regroup”.
I always thought my first task was to hold my seat, and it looks like I won’t. And that’s on me. I take full responsibility for that. I don’t blame anyone else. That is for me. But I am grateful for the opportunity that was given to me. But I’m still a youngish man, and I love the Liberal party. I believe it is a force for good in Victoria and this nation. And I will always be loyal to it and be there to help it.
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Releasing policies late in campaign feels 'unpredictable' for voters, Liberal MP says
Asked to characterise the campaign Peter Dutton ran, Wolahan says the result means “you have to acknowledge things went wrong” but that he is “not going to pick that apart here on the Sunday afterwards – that’s for the review”.
Asked whether Peter Dutton himself is a problem, Wolahan says he “greatly admires” the opposition leader, describing him as a “patriot” for “his service to our country.”
I’m not going to criticise Peter on this – my heart breaks for him and his family and, again, I thank him for his service as a leader of our party. And let’s not forget where we were through this term. There were periods where there was great successes. And that’s down to Peter and his leadership. But again, all of this will come through in the review.
This appears to be an allusion to the referendum on an Indigenous voice to parliament, an issue that Wolahan had long taken a personal interest in and sought to defeat.
Wolahan also says he “won’t dissect the particular policies”, but says that the result can be attributed to people looking for “predictability again” with the return of US president Donald Trump.
If you’re putting policies to the electorate in the final few weeks of the campaign, they feel like it’s unpredictable. So if we are true to our values and we prosecute the case early. And some of the things we need to prosecute: how do we address debt? How do we address productivity in this country?
If we do that in a constructive way and early, run the case, run the arguments, I think then Australians will trust us that we may be given the authority to be in government one day. But we have to earn that back again.
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Liberal Keith Wolahan: ‘We have to listen to Australians. They have sent us a message’
Wolahan is now being taken through a series of Coalition policies they took to the election, including nuclear power.
It wouldn’t be fair on me to dissect that particular policy, but everything should be on the table, and that should be analysed. Again, whether it’s through focus groups, internal discussions, and talking with experts. But we have to listen to Australians. They have sent us a message. And our first task is to hear it. And that often takes time.
A core constituency within the Coalition embraced nuclear power partly after conservative parties in Ontario, Canada organised around the industry to cement what they called a “blue-blue alliance” – an alliance between conservative parties and blue collar working class unions.
That strategy clearly did not apply well to Australia as there is no existing nuclear power industry to draw upon.
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Liberal MP says party has trouble connecting with voters in cities
Wolahan says the Coalition needs to seriously think about it engages with constituencies in the city. He says professional people, particularly professional women, younger people and “multicultural Australians”, have turned off the party, along with those “who don’t have a memory of the Howard-Costello era”.
The specifics of those – I’m going to leave for the review. The are view can’t just be any other review. It’s going to have to be a serious review that takes time, and hopefully there will be many chapters. Hopefully, it’s a review that’s not just put on the shelf but is read again and again and again.
Wolahan, however, acknowledged that a lack of metropolitan members in the party room is making it more difficult for the Coalition to speak to the cities at election time.
We need to get out of the country and come to Melbourne. If I’m there, I will help them try and solve this problem so that we can provide a vision of hope for the country.
Because I think, as a party, we’re very nostalgic. We look back to our heroes, whether it’s Menzies or Howard or Costello, and that’s great. But I think we need more than the rear-view mirror. I think we need to look through the windscreen and say, “This country’s best days are ahead of it.”
And we can be a force for good, about aspiration, opportunity and hope. If we do that, again, I think the Liberal party has a bright future.
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Liberal MP says party needs to ‘dig deep and think about who we are’
It is “more likely than not” Keith Wolahan will lose his seat, the incumbent Liberal MP for Menzies says, but he is not willing to concede defeat “just yet”.
Speaking to ABC Insiders, Wolahan also said it was his daughter’s birthday, and he took the chance to wish her happy birthday on national television. Which is nice.
Happy birthday, Eva.
Turning to politics, he says he is confident the “party will rebuild and our future a bright one”.
When asked to diagnose the problem, Wolahan says the “party has an issue in urban Australia, which is where most people live”.
So we need to turn our mind to that like we have never done before. We need to really dig deep and think about who we are and who we fight for and who makes up Australia.
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Labor poised for big Senate result, while deputy Nationals leader could lose seat
It always slips under the radar on election night but the Senate results are crucial to how the next parliament functions.
As we sift through the results, it looks like another huge result for Labor while the Nationals deputy leader is poised to lose her seat.
Here’s the state of play in each state and territory according to the ABC count.
In New South Wales, Labor is on track to win three seats. The Coalition is polling just under two quotas, which will likely cost the Nationals’ deputy leader, Perin Davey, her spot in the upper house.
In Victoria, Labor could also snare three spots, including one for Michelle Ananda-Rajah, who ran for the Senate after her Melbourne seat of Higgins was abolished.
Labor could also pick up three seats in each of WA and South Australia. A sharp drop in the Liberal vote in SA is poised to cost senator David Fawcett his seat.
In Queensland, Labor and the Coalition are set to win a couple of seats each with Greens and One Nation poised to retain their spots.
A similar scenario is unfolding in Tasmania. Labor will win two seats while the Liberals are set to retain their two spots despite a massive swing against the party in the Apple Isle. The Greens will hold their seat while Jacqui Lambie is ahead in the race for the sixth spot.
It is status-quo in the ACT, although independent David Pocock has been elected ahead of the Labor finance minister, Katy Gallagher.
Labor and the Country Liberals are set to win one seat each in the NT.
So, what does it all mean?
If Labor wins all of the seats in which it is ahead in the count it could end up with 30 upper house seats – nine short of absolute majority.
That would mean Labor would only need the support of the Greens to pass legislation which the Coalition opposes, allowing it to bypass crossbenchers such as Pocock and Lambie.
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‘There can never be too many Queenslanders’
Chalmers says “there can never be too many Queenslanders”, noting the number of new Labor MPs who will join the party in parliament, and particularly the large number of women.
Previously, Chalmers said, Anika Wells had been a lone voice from the state but will now be joined by seven.
We’ve been long on influence but short on numbers. I’m a Queenslander, and I think that most the cabinet should be Queenslanders - that’s just how we’re born and raised.
Meanwhile, Chalmers says Anthony Albanese is now a Labor hero and that he expects the prime minister to serve a full term and run again.
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Chalmers says ‘huge agenda’ ahead for Labor, including housing, energy and AI
Jim Chalmers lays out the government’s agenda going forward, saying it’s about more homes, energy transition and AI.
We have to build more homes. We’ve got to get this energy transformation right. We’ve got to do more to embrace technology, particularly the AI opportunity. There’s a huge agenda there for us. And what our agenda boils down to is obviously weathering and withstanding this global economic uncertainty in the near-term, but also making sure that we make the Australian people the primary beneficiaries of all of this churn and change that we’re seeing in the world.
He adds that the geopolitical clash between China and the US will “cast a dark shadow over the global economy”.
But we’re really well-placed. We are quite well prepared because of the progress that Australia’s made over the course of the last three years. So we go in that with a sense of, you know, we’re realistic about how this could play out in the world, but we’re optimistic about Australia’s place in that.
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Chalmers says Australians rejected Coalition’s ‘darkness’ and ‘pessimism’
Asked whether the win will empower the Albanese government to be more ambitious and to do things that may not necessarily be political popular, Jim Chalmers says he considers the result a vote of confidence in the leadership of Anthony Albanese.
There was a real kind of darkness at the heart of the Coalition campaign, this kind of backward-looking pessimism which Australians rejected. And in rejecting that, I think they embraced the kind of leadership that Anthony Albanese provides, which is practical, pragmatic, it’s problem-solving, and it’s very forward-looking. And that’s the approach that we’ll take.
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Labor government to give budget deficit ‘ongoing attention’, Chalmers says
Chalmers says the re-elected Albanese is an “ambitious government” that is “looking forward to implementing the agenda we took to the election”, but added that the Senate remains fractured, meaning negotiation will be required to pass legislation.
The treasurer says the government will give a structural budget deficit its “ongoing attention”.
The way that Katy Gallagher and I see that challenge is as an ongoing challenge, including in a structural sense, where we have made progress in aged care, the NDIS, and interest costs. But, clearly, that will warrant ongoing attention.
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Election win was beyond Labor’s ‘most optimistic expectations’, Chalmers says
Labor’s election win was beyond the party’s “most optimistic expectations”, Jim Chalmers says.
Speaking to ABC Insiders host David Speers, the treasurer described the victory as “one for the ages” but added that it “does come with, as well, with healthy helpings of humility.”
We know that there are a lot of challenges to address in our economy and more broadly. We know that people are under pressure. We know the global environment is uncertain.
And we know that this second term has been given to us by the Australian people because they want stability in uncertain times, but not because they think we’ve solved every challenge in our economy or in our society more broadly, but because we’re better placed to work towards solving some of those challenges.
So there is an element of humility. And there’s a lot of gratitude to the Australian people.
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Tasmanian independent says Franklin swing a wake-up call on salmon farming
The result in the Tasmanian seat of Franklin is a “wake-up call” for Labor and the Liberals on the future of salmon farming, the independent challenger says.
Former journalist Peter George ran in the seat campaigning to halt the expansion of salmon farming in the region – a hot-button issue for communities in Tasmania – and there has been a swing towards him and away from Labor in the seat.
George says he topped the polls in areas most impacted by salmon pollution, including Alonnah (South Bruny), Cradoc, Cygnet, Kettering, Middleton, North Bruny, Sandford, South Arm and Woodbridge.
He says the decision by the Liberals not to preference him resulted in the re-election of Labor’s Julie Collins.
George says:
I am so glad I stood for cleaning up our marine and coastal environments.
It gave thousands of affected people a voice. It is a voice that will only get louder as the squalor of Atlantic salmon farms spreads.
Julie Collins, the fisheries minister, survived this time but she won’t next unless she stands up for our waterways and gets rid of the feedlots.
If this isn’t a wake-up call to Labor and Liberal at federal and state levels, they will pay the price for kowtowing to the multinationals that own the industry and destroy our waterways.
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Liberal senator says road back starts with 'deeper understanding of modern Australia'
Liberal moderate and re-elected New South Wales senator Andrew Bragg says his heart goes out to unsuccessful party colleagues after last night’s electoral drubbing.
Writing on social media, the shadow assistant minister for home ownership offered thanks to outgoing opposition leader Peter Dutton.
He said Australia was “drifting” under Labor and needed better leadership.
Bragg said the Liberal party’s recovery starts with a “deeper understanding” of modern Australia.
It was the toughest night for the Liberals ever.
The message from the electorate is clear. For the Liberal party, the road back starts with a deeper understanding of modern Australia.
We must offer an ambitious economic agenda and a centrist, inclusive social vision. Reclaiming enterprise and the centre is not a departure from our values – it is a return to them.
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Greens on track to lose several MPs as independents hold off challenges and gain votes in federal election
Voters have dealt a significant blow to the Greens, with the minor party on track to lose several MPs – including potentially its party leader, Adam Bandt – and fall short in other electorates that it had hoped to win from Labor, while several teal independents retained their seats with improved margins and others are on track to win seats previously held by the Coalition.
At the Greens’ election night function in Melbourne, the party faithful had largely tuned out of the election results broadcast, as early results predicted Max Chandler-Mather and Stephen Bates would lose their respective seats of Griffith and Brisbane to Labor.
And in the Brisbane seat of Ryan, the future of Elizabeth Watson-Brown – who, with Chandler-Mather and Bates, won their seats for the Greens for the first time at the 2022 election – was unclear, with early results on a knife-edge.
While Watson-Brown was leading the Liberal candidate on a two-candidate count, with about 50% of the votes counted, preference flows would be key to determining the outcome.
In Melbourne – the seat held by Bandt since 2010 – early results indicated a tight race.
There was little separating Bandt from Labor’s Sarah Witty, with just under 60% of the vote counted. Projections indicated he was at risk of losing the seat depending on preference flows.
For more on this report, read the full story by Guardian Australia’s Elias Visontay:
An association representing landlords in Victoria is celebrating the loss of Max Chandler-Mather’s Greens seat of Griffith.
In a series of posts to social media, Victorian Landlords highlighted Chandler-Mather’s advocacy for policies in support of renters, particularly calls for a “rent freeze”, saying it failed to find electoral support.
Good luck next time!
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Farrell on Albanese's win: 'He was looking forward, whereas the Liberals were looking backwards'
The trade minister, Don Farrell, is up next on Sky.
Farrell reveals he “said a little prayer” for Albanese while he was in the Vatican for the funeral of Pope Francis.
There’s only one person that we can congratulate for [the result] – and that’s prime minister Anthony Albanese. He’s run a flawless campaign, a very disciplined campaign.
Farrell said even Labor’s internal polling didn’t point to such an emphatic win.
I think when those people looked at the two options, prime minister Albanese and Mr Dutton, they saw that the prime minister had a vision for this country.
He was looking forward, whereas the Liberals were looking backwards. And I think people have accepted that we need to look forward.
Farrell is asked if a trip to Washington – and a potential face-to-face meeting with Donald Trump – would be a priority for the reelected prime minister.
It would be entirely up to the prime minister. I don’t set his travel schedule, and that would be a matter for him.
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CPA Australia urges Albanese to create ‘more business-friendly environment’
CPA Australia, the industry body representing accountants, is out early in the wake of the election result calling for the re-elected Albanese government to double down on trying to improve “business productivity”.
CPA Australia CEO Chris Freeland said he looked forward to a “clear and optimistic visions” from the government to “promote growth through reduced regulatory pressure”.
Freeland wanted the government to consult more closely with business to remove “regulatory burdens”, reduce bracket creep and Australia’s “dependence” on personal income tax, and greater austerity to “bring the deficit under greater control”.
The accounting profession has a unique insight into the practical challenges created by our government policy, including our tax regime and a culture of red tape. We look forward to working with the government to create a more business-friendly environment that delivers economic prosperity and benefits to Australia.
We encourage the Albanese government to commit to long-term plans that look beyond the next three years and deliver improvements to the lives of Australians – not just today but long into the future.
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Littleproud on Labor: ‘They’re a slick machine’
Finally, David Littleproud is asked about what impact Donald Trump had on the outcome after Labor sought to tie Peter Dutton to the US president throughout the campaign.
What Anthony Albanese and the Labor team were able to was to really tap into these sorts of issues and then paint a bigger picture and destroy his character.
I think there’s a lesson in how they (Labor) did politics. They did it a lot better than us, and you’ve got to acknowledge that they’re a slick machine.
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‘Donald Trump does not have a role in relation to Australian domestic politics’
Still speaking to the ABC, former NSW Liberal MP Michael Yabsley addresses the Trump-shaped elephant in the room, saying the politics represented by the US president has no place in Australia.
I think it’s part of the contagion of the way in which American politics has infused its way in to Australian politics, but very few people would have seen this coming and would have seen it coming certainly to the extent that it has happened.
My own view is that it’s an awful influence on Australian politics and something that we would do well to repudiate. Notwithstanding, you know the strength and the warmth and the importance of the relationship with the United States, in my opinion, Donald Trump does not have a role in relation to Australian domestic politics and we would do well to make that clear.
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Littleproud says working from home policy ‘not handled well’
Littleproud is asked about the impact of the Coalition’s bungled work-from-home proposal, which was ultimately reversed due to its unpopularity.
I think we’ve got to be honest – that wasn’t handled well. But I mean, Peter had the courage to say that he got it wrong.
The Nationals leader is pressed on whether the proposal went to shadow cabinet for endorsement before it was announced (there have been suggestions it wasn’t).
After a back-and-forth with host Andrew Clennell, Littleproud said it was “talked about broadly” internally.
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'I don’t think nuclear was the reason we lost': Nationals leader
The fallout to Labor’s thumping election win is underway as politicians on all sides begin picking apart the extraordinary result.
The ABC has Labor on 85 seats, a clear majority, with the Coalition on 36.
These numbers will bounce around a bit as the 19 seats currently “in doubt” are called for the various parties and independents.
The Nationals leader, David Littleproud, is up now dissecting the result on Sky News.
Littleproud said Labor ran such a fierce personal campaign that made Dutton effectively “unelectable”.
Dutton lost his seat of Dickson on Saturday night, ending his 24-year career in federal parliament.
Our parliament is going to be poorer for it (Dutton losing).
Littleproud is asked whether the defeat spells the end for the Coalition’s push to build nuclear reactors in Australia.
We’re going to work through all of those (things). I don’t think nuclear was the reason we lost. I think this was a smick campaign by Labor destroying Peter Dutton.
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Liberal party must face up to ‘home truths’, former NSW Liberal MP says
The Liberal party must go through “some soul searching” but “can’t just pay lip service to the soul searching”, a former New South Wales Liberal party figure says.
Speaking to the ABC on Sunday morning, former NSW Liberal politician Michael Yabsley said the federal Coalition had been underperforming “over a long period of time” and that there are “home truths” the party had to face up to.
I actually think it has got more to do with the Liberal party machine which I contend is no longer a machine and has not been a machine for a long time.
Elaborating on this, Yabsley added:
So a Liberal party machine or a party machine if it is operating properly needs to be able to recruit members, it needs to be able to fundraise, needs to be able to develop policy, and it needs to be able to conduct pre-selections of candidates who stand the best chance of winning.
They are what I would describe as the Liberal party’s KPIs and those KPIs - the truth is, the inescapable truth is that they have been miserably failed over a long period of time and they’re the home truths that need to be faced up to.
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Analysis: Albanese’s experience showed but a terrible Trump-inspired Coalition campaign helped
Just as Australians were returning from the calm of summer holidays, Labor and the Coalition both held their breath as Donald Trump took the presidential oath of office in Washington.
With a federal election year under way and the Albanese government desperate to restart Labor’s flagging political prospects, Trump’s victory had emboldened conservatives in the Coalition and rightwing minor parties. Along with sections of the Australia media, they pushed for a version of Trump’s unapologetic politics here.
Sensing a shift to the right across the electorate, Peter Dutton and the Coalition finalised policies to slash the federal public service and root out “woke” ideology in schools and social policy. They fine-tuned messages about the Indigenous welcome to country and accused Labor of dangerous overreach in the transition to renewable energy.
But, despite predictions of an inevitable slide into minority for Labor, Anthony Albanese’s remarkable election victory showed voters aren’t interested in appeals to the fringes. Instead, Australians were eager to reward a focus on the mainstream.
Read Tom McIlroy’s full analysis on last night’s election:
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Election live results
If you are waking on Sunday morning and looking to get a sense for the current political landscape, Guardian Australia has been tracking the count.
Check it out below.
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This morning’s lineup on ABC’s Insiders
The ABC’s Insiders has a full listing this morning with treasurer Jim Chalmers, the Coalition’s Keith Wolahan and Independent MP Zali Steggall speaking to host David Speers to dissect the Coalition’s wipeout.
It is worth noting that the AEC currently has Wolahan losing his seat of Menzies to Labor challenger Gabriel Ng.
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World leaders congratulate Albanese on election win
World leaders have sent prime minister Anthony Albanese messages of congratulations after Labor’s re-election.
Among the well-wishers was Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
“I wish you continued success in serving the people of Australia and delivering meaningful achievements,” Zelenskyy said in a post on X.
“Ukraine sincerely values Australia’s unwavering support and its principled stance on ending Russia’s war and securing a dignified and lasting peace.”
Indonesian president Prabowo Subianto expressed his “heartfelt congratulations”.
“His renewed mandate reflects the trust and confidence of the Australian people in his vision for the country’s future,” Subianto said on X.
European Union president Ursula von der Leyen sent Albanese good wishes.
“Europeans and Australians are not just friends – we’re mates,” she wrote on X.
“Let us seize this moment of stability to deepen our cooperation.”
Former Italian prime minister Matteo Renzi said he was glad his friend retained the top job.
“After Canada and Australia, Trump’s embrace is confirmed as the kiss of death,” he said on X.
Albanese also received greetings from US secretary of state Marco Rubio.
“The United States looks forward to deepening its relationship with Australia to advance our common interests and promote freedom and stability in the Indo-Pacific and globally,” Rubio said.
British prime minister Keir Starmer also weighed in on the election victory.
“The UK and Australia are as close as ever,” he said on X.
“Congratulations, @AlboMP on your election win.”
Indian prime minister Narendra Modi praised Albanese’s “resounding victory”.
“This emphatic mandate indicates the enduring faith of the Australian people in your leadership,” he said.
French president Emmanuel Macron posted a picture of the pair on social media, in his congratulatory message.
“In the face of global challenges, Australia and France have so much to achieve together — especially in the Indo-Pacific,” Macron said.
“Let us continue to write, with ambition and friendship, the new chapter of our partnership.”
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Good morning
Good morning and welcome to today’s live blog, the day after Anthony Albanese led Labor to a thumping victory, returning to power with an increased majority.
As of 10.30pm last night, the ABC had Labor on 87 seats – an increase of nine – while the Coalition were on 39 seats, a massive 18-seat collapse.
Among the many losses for the Coalition was Peter Dutton’s own seat of Dickson, leaving the Liberals in shock and without a leader.
The party failed to win back the teal seats of Kooyong, Goldstein, Wentworth, Curtin and Mackellar and trail another Climate 200-backed independent Nicolette Boele in Bradfield.
Fellow Climate 200-backed independent Jessie Price is also ahead in the Labor-held seat of Bean in Canberra.
The Greens also had a bad night, with housing spokesperson Max Chandler-Mather and Brisbane MP Stephen Bates on track for defeat and the party behind in its target seat of Wills in Melbourne’s inner north.
Stay with us today as we follow all the latest news and fallout from an historic night.
