SYDNEY: Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Friday called a national election for May 3, launching a five-week campaign that is set to be dominated by cost-of-living pressures.

Albanese’s Labor party won a majority at the last federal election in 2022, but most recent opinion polls show the party neck-and-neck with the opposition Liberal-National coalition when votes from smaller parties are redistributed.

“Our government has chosen to face global challenges the Australian way — helping people under cost-of-living pressure, while building for the future,” he told a press conference.

“Because of the strength and resilience that our people have shown, Australia is turning the corner. Now on May 3, you choose the way forward.”

In addition to housing crisis, another issue in the campaign will be which leader can best handle relations with US President Trump

Albanese earlier in the morning met the country’s Governor-General Sam Mostyn to seek permission to formally call the election, as required by Australia’s constitution. The governor-general represents Australia’s head of state, Britain’s King Charles.

Tight campaign

Albanese has announced a slew of measures aimed at pleasing families and businesses in recent months, including tax cuts in Tuesday’s budget, with the rising cost of living in the country set to dominate the campaign.

On Friday, Albanese focused his campaign attack on the opposition Liberal and National coalition, saying it would axe government programmes and revoke modest new tax cuts.

A close-run election could mean no single party or coalition of parties will be able to form a government on its own, instead relying on smaller parties and independents to command a majority in the lower house.

Albanese, a long-time Labor lawmaker, has suffered from waning popularity as living costs and interest rates rose steeply. After enjoying a healthy lead for much of his term, his personal approval ratings are now close to those of Liberal leader Peter Dutton, a former police officer and the defence minister in the last Liberal-National government.

Dutton has campaigned on a housing crisis that he says is putting home ownership out of reach, and on Friday he said cutting permanent migration by 25pc would create more homes. Also criticising Labor’s transition to renewable energy, he said, “If energy is unaffordable and unreliable it is a disaster for the economy.”

Dutton promised a cut to fuel excise that he said would bring faster relief to households as they fill up the car, compared to Labor’s tax cuts that start next year.

Another issue in the campaign will be which leader would best handle relations with US President Donald Trump, who imposed steel and aluminium tariffs that affect Australian exports. Trump is expected to announce a further round of tariffs on trade partners next week.

Albanese said his government had been “engaging on a daily basis” with the Trump administration over tariffs, and pointed to his two phone calls with the US president and early meetings between the two countries’ defence and foreign ministers.

Without naming Trump, Albanese sought to cast Dutton as adopting Trump-like policies, such as cutting public servant jobs. “There are a range of ideas borrowed from others — we need the Australian way,” Albanese said in his press conference.

Published in Dawn, March 29th, 2025