Australia’s centre-left Labor government claimed victory on Saturday after a tense election shaped by concerns over housing, the cost of living and the shadow of Donald Trump.
Voters swung in favour of Anthony Albanese, the incumbent prime minister, over the opposition Liberal-National coalition, led by Peter Dutton.
Mr Dutton’s policies and campaigning had been compared to those of the US president, who had loomed over the vote since its earliest days.
There had been keen global interest over whether Mr Trump’s tariff-induced economic chaos would influence the final result, as it did in Canada’s election last week.
The Australian Labor Party will now form a majority government after trailing in the polls as recently as February to the conservative coalition.
Opinion polls had shown Labor ahead, after trailing in the polls as recently as February to Mr Dutton’s conservative coalition.
Mr Albanese declared victory on Saturday evening, saying there was still more to do to help Australians under pressure.
“Thank you to the people of Australia for the chance to continue to serve the best nation on Earth,” he told a jubilant crowd at a campaign party in Sydney.
“Albo, Albo, Albo,” supporters cheered, as ABC, the national broadcaster, projected victory for Labor in the election – including in Mr Dutton’s long-held Queensland seat of Dickson.
Mr Dutton, who became the first Australian opposition leader to lose their seat in parliament at a federal election, said he took “full responsibility” for the coalition’s defeat.
He confirmed he had conceded defeat by telephoning Mr Albanese to “congratulate” him on what he said was an “historic occasion” for Labor.
Mr Dutton said: “I said to the prime minister that his mum would be incredibly proud of his achievement tonight – and he should be very proud of what he’s achieved.”
He said he was confident Ali France, the Labor MP who defeated him in his own seat, would do a “good job as the local member”.
“Twenty four years is a long time to be in public life and it has been an amazing honour,” Mr Dutton said.
Mr Dutton fell out of favour with voters, especially women, after he promised to stop public servants from working from home – before suggesting that working parents could drop their hours if they needed greater flexibility.
He later backtracked on the pledge but by then his opponents had seized on the opportunity to point out that he was out of touch with working Australians in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis.
That image was not helped by revelations that he had made $18 million in property sales, and had also profited off share-market trades made just prior to the announcement of a government bank bailout during the global financial crisis.
Then came a disastrous press conference in which Mr Dutton invited his 20-year-old son to talk about how hard it was to purchase a house – another move that worked against him after opponents pointed out the family’s sizeable trust.
However, in recent weeks, the greatest contributing factor to the swing against him is thought to have been the global uncertainty driven by Mr Trump.
The election came less than a week after Canada’s Liberal Party returned to power in a major political comeback, powered by a backlash against Mr Trump’s tariffs and comments on Canadian sovereignty.
“If you sling enough mud it will stick,” said Jacinta Price, a coalition senator for the Northern Territory. Her vow to “make Australia great again” had fuelled comparisons to Mr Trump’s own “Make America Great Again” slogan.
“You made it all about Trump,” she said on ABC. Mr Dutton had promised to appoint Ms Price to a ministry of government efficiency, one of several echoes of the US president’s policies, if he won the election.
“Losing Peter Dutton is a huge loss,” she added.
Senator James Paterson, a spokesman for the opposition Liberal Party, defended the conservative campaign, which he said was negatively affected by “the Trump factor”.
He told ABC: “It was devastating in Canada for the conservatives … I think it has been a factor here, just how big a factor will be determined in a few hours’ time.”
As counting got under way, Labor Treasurer Jim Chalmers said the government had been “in all sorts of trouble” at the end of 2024 but had got back in the contest because of Mr Albanese’s strong campaign performance, policies that addressed concerns about the cost of living, and the Trump effect.
