The Australian elections are over and have ended with a decisive outcome for the Australian Labor Party. The Anthony Albanese led party has emerged with a surprising sizable majority for its second term.
The decisive victory for Labor also comes as a big shock to the Liberal Party of Australia. The Liberal Party will now be heading into the political wilderness, having lost not only an election but also multiple seats once considered secure, including that of the Liberal Party leader, Peter Dutton. It will also presumably have to rethink its policy, message, and leadership, and how it has managed to be completely outmaneuvered by the Labor Party.
This result also strengthens Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s hand—not only is he the first Australian prime minister to win two consecutive elections in more than 20 years, but he will not have to rely on independents or third-party members of Parliament to pass legislation in the House.
Major Issues in Focus during Elections
This election was predominantly focused on domestic issues, with cost-of-living concerns—including inflation, housing prices, energy costs, healthcare, and interest rates—dominating the conversation. Social cohesion concerns—there has been a major spike in antisemitism in Australia—were also a prominent election topic.
National security issues played only a minor role in the election. This is particularly evident when looking at the defense spending, with Albanese quite clearly not considering it a major issue to focus on.
Where foreign policy did intrude into the election, it was in the form of Donald Trump, his tariffs, and the broader set of policies emanating from Washington. Dutton and the Liberals faced voter scrutiny over their perceived similarities to Trump—especially on cultural issues and with ideas such as a U.S. Department of Government Efficiency–like approach to the public sector.
It seems such comparisons to the Trump administration spooked many voters, as has also been visible in the recent Canadian elections, where Pierre Poilievre and his conservatives, once leading by a margin in the polls, fell off completely as Trump’s tariff and 51st state rhetoric began. There were enough similarities to the Canadian election to suggest that the Australian conservative Liberal Party’s fortunes also fell once Trump began his tariff attacks on the United States’ allies.
Albanese favoured by the Chinese Effect.
The Chinese have had a strong influence in past elections, but it seems this time they have been decisive in their moves. The Chinese diaspora in Australia has moved almost completely to Albanese’s side. Suburbs with significant Chinese Australian populations in key marginal seats recorded huge swings to Labor of up to 30%, as strategists and analysts warned the Liberal party has failed to rebuild trust with the community.
The Liberal party’s review of the 2022 federal election found hawkish rhetoric on China cost it votes in several seats with high numbers of Chinese Australians. It called for greater community outreach and to rebuild trust before the 2025 poll.
When, in the final debate Peter Dutton said China was the biggest threat to national security it was taken up as a big election issue by the Labor Party. It all got packaged up for Red Book and WeChat right away,” a Labor source said. “It was yet another huge own goal in a campaign full of them.”
When the Liberal senator Jane Hume claimed some Chinese Australians handing out how-to-vote cards for Labor may have been “communist spies”, the foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, recorded WeChat videos hammering the Liberals.
The Chinese-Australian vote in the end tilted decisively in favour of Albanese with Dutton and his party being reduced considerably.
It seems the Liberal party has lost out in every sphere, it was not able to push on the local issues of the cost of living crisis, inflation, and housing, etc. It was also considerably damaged by Donald Trump’s aggressive international approach, which shocked many voters, and in the end, the Chinese Australians proved decisive with an anti-China Liberal Party narrative pushing their vote completely towards the Labor Party, handing Albanese an impressive victory. Now the Liberal party will have to reassess and plan their long way back. For now, Anthony Albanese and Labor have managed to stitch together an impressive campaign and a resounding win.