Australia to hold federal election on 3 May

Australia will head to the polls for a federal election on 3 May.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, whose Labor Party will be defending a slim majority, announced the date after visiting the Governor General in the capital, Canberra, on Friday.

Opinion polls predict a slim margin between the country’s two major parties, and the possibility that either will have to work with independent MPs or minor parties – which combined won a record share of the vote at the last vote in 2022 – to form the next government.

The campaign is expected to be dominated by cost-of-living issues, and Labor is fighting to avoid becoming the only first-term government to lose an election in almost a century.

In a press conference on Friday morning, Albanese reiterated his pledge to address the cost of living – having already unveiled plans to provide more free doctor visits and deliver small tax cuts – and said electing his rival Peter Dutton would be a step backwards for the country.

“It was always going to take more than three years to clean up 10 years of mess,” he said on Friday, referring to the previous coalition government he defeated in 2022.

Never has voters’ choice been more important, or more clear, he said: “This election is a choice between Labor’s plan to keep building or Peter Dutton’s promise to cut.”

The opposition leader, however, has argued the Albanese government has failed to improve the lives of Australians, and it is his party that has the solutions.

He is expected to speak later on Friday, but has been promising to “get Australia back on track” and improve the economy by slimming down the public service, making fuel cheaper and improving Australia’s energy security.

The affordability of housing and groceries is at the top of voters’ minds, as well as access to healthcare, though concern about managing record immigration and reducing crime is increasing significantly. Climate action – the feature of the last election – remains important to many Australians too.

Politics in Australia – where voting is compulsory for adults – is traditionally dominated by Labor and the Liberal-National coalition. Either party needs to win at least 76 of the 150 seats in the House of Representatives – where the prime minister sits – to form a majority government.

One of the country’s longest serving politicians, Albanese took power in 2022 after a decade of political instability, in which the country changed leader six times in only eight years.

He promised unity and integrity and – after a campaign marked by anger over Australia’s emissions reductions efforts – vowed to “end the climate wars”.

Albanese’s government enshrined into law a boosted emissions cut target, and introduced a mechanism that acts as a carbon cap for the country’s biggest emitters – though experts say more ambition is needed.

However, Albanese’s key goal of achieving constitutional recognition for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, and establishing a parliamentary advisory body for them, failed at a referendum in 2023.

And he has come under pressure over global economic conditions which have exacerbated cost-of-living pain in Australia – and played a part in the downfall of several incumbent governments around the world in the past year.

Last year, he came under fire after it emerged that he had bought a A$4.3m ($2.9m, £2.2m) cliff-top home amid a national housing crisis.

Australians have not ousted a government from Canberra after only a single term since 1931.

Dutton – who was a police officer in Queensland before he was elected – has more than 20 years in parliament under his belt, many of them spent as a senior minister handling key portfolios like health, immigration, defence and home affairs.

He built a reputation as a hard-line conservative best known for overseeing Australia’s controversial policies on asylum seekers, and his role in the downfall of former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.

He has styled himself as a cultural warrior – opposing same sex marriage, diversity and inclusion initiatives and the Voice to Parliament referendum – but has in recent times tried to shake his tough public persona, which he says doesn’t accurately reflect who he is.