Federal election 2025 live: Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton await results of vote as Australia goes to the polls – latest news
Key events
How did Australians in Antarctica vote?
Emily Wind
Somewhat further afield, Australians have already voted. Emily Wind reports.
In the lead up to election day, Australians have cast their ballots in a number of remote locations and even from overseas – but none as far south as the 100-odd expeditioners currently working in Antarctica.
Expeditioners working at Australia’s antarctic and sub-antarctic stations were able to cast their vote by telephone – a process typically reserved for voters who are blind or have low vision – with no physical ballot booth set-up this year.
Voting opened on 22 April, with expeditioners able to vote early or on election day. But, unlike others, they won’t be fined if they do not vote, according to the Australian Electoral Commission.
The AEC says Australians travelling to work in Antarctica need to register as an Antarctic elector before leaving the country – with “Antarctic” including the Australian Antarctic Territory, the Territory of Heard Island and McDonald Islands, Macquarie Island, and a ship at sea in transit to or from Antarctica.
Arrangements were put in place for expeditioners on the RSV Nuyina in case it arrived back later than scheduled (on 2 May, the day before the election).
Polls open in eastern states
It is just past 8am here in Sydney, and the polling booths are officially open!
Voters can lodge their ballots between 8am to 6pm today.
For a refresher on when, where and how to vote, here is our 2025 voting guide with everything you need to know.
The final Newspoll of the campaign suggests Anthony Albanese will defy the trend of recent years and become the first prime minister to win a second term since John Howard.
The survey for The Australian has Labor leading the Coalition by 52.5-47.5% on a two-party preferred basis.
On a primary vote basis, Labor is on 33 points, the Coalition on 34, Greens on 13, One Nation on 8
What’s more, it shows that a majority of voters think they will be better off with another Labor government than the Coalition.
The outcome, however, remains on a “knife-edge” according to our political correspondent Dan Jervis Bardy. While Albanese looks like he has his nose in front, Peter Dutton is still claiming he will win a shock victory.
Read Dan’s piece here:
Cait Kelly
Asked what she thought was going to cut through, Gallagher said:
We’ve had a clear message. We’ve provided our costings and transparency. We’ve let people know how we want to help them and I think what they saw yesterday afternoon with the release of the Liberal costings – no wonder in the dying days of the campaign – you know, bigger deficits, higher taxes, and savage cuts to Medicare to pay for nuclear and I think that certainly has been front and centre of people’s minds. What do you want for the future?
Do you want seven nuclear reactors built around this country that you’re going to pay for with your taxes?
Asked if she gave the Coalition credit for finding things to save on in their costings, she said:
I think that the release of costings yesterday was a massive con job. I don’t accept for a moment – and I’ve looked at the costings pretty thoroughly – that they would actually with that plan deliver an improved bottom line. It’s made on dodgy numbers about public service cuts – 41,000 jobs to go.
Cait Kelly
Last-minute pitches to voters
Labor’s finance minister, Katy Gallagher, and the shadow minister for home affairs, James Paterson, were both on 7:30 last night to make their final pitch to voters.
Paterson denied the Liberal party was going to change the pension for people overseas after the Coalition’s costings suggested the party would change the social security rules so people travelling internationally would get just four weeks’ payments.
Paterson said:
This prime minister as of today has told more than 100 lies in this campaign. His latest lie is that the opposition is proposing changes to the pension for people who travel overseas. There are no such changes. We are making no changes to people on the pension who travel overseas.
Paterson said many voters would make up their mind right before they enter the booth:
They’ll have to decide if they want $14 off a tank of petrol or diesel. Do they want a $1,200 tax rebate next year? Do they want a strong economic plan under Peter Dutton, who can get cost of living under control and our country back on track?
Election day dawns
Good morning and welcome to our election day blog. It’s been a long, gruelling five weeks but at long last the day has arrived – despite the fact that around seven million people have already voted.
We will be around the grounds this morning – from all parts of Australia to Antarctica and London and back again – to bring you the news of how everything’s going down.
