The post-election dust has settled and Anthony Albanese’s Labor team have won with a thumping 94-seat majority. Here are our key policy take-outs:
1. Now is the time to lay the groundwork for tax reform and long-term productivity gains.
Much of the business community has tied productivity to winding back Labor’s industrial relations reforms, and looked to the Opposition to drive the narrative on productivity gains. But with Labor’s 94-seat majority, a rollback isn’t on the table, and isn’t what voters want. Instead, this is the moment to shift the conversation toward genuine productivity and tax reform. Starting policy-driven discussions now creates space for meaningful, incremental changes that can pave the way for deeper structural reform in a third term.
2. There is no appetite for messing with the superannuation system.
The short-sighted policy proposals to use super to buy a house has now been taken to two elections. The policy failed to gain traction for the Coalition both times. Between those two elections, the Albanese Government’s legislation to protect superannuation passed. While the 2022 Labor victory didn’t end the Liberal Party’s long-running ideological war on industry super funds, perhaps the 2025 victory will.
3. The Help to Buy scheme needs a start date.
It was a core 2022 election promise: to help Australians purchase a home with as little as a 5 per cent deposit with the government taking a stake. Instead, Labor approached the 2025 with a promise to expand the scheme to help more homebuyers, without having helped a single buyer to date. Housing affordability must be eased in this term, and the expanded scheme can only make a difference if it is available to buyers sooner rather than later.
4. It’s time to reset the narrative.
For much of the last term, the public wasn’t clear on Labor’s direction, or how they personally benefited. Labor’s disciplined election campaign and consistent messaging went far in winning votes during the six weeks before May 3, but throughout 2024, polling and public sentiment was much weaker towards the government. Voters gave Labor a clear mandate, and rewarded three years of steady leadership, but are unlikely to reward three more years of caution.
5. It’s time to draw a line under a few spent arguments.
- Quotas work: Of the 40 seats the liberals won, only seven are held by women. The rise of women elected as “teal” independents shows that if a major party refuses to preselect candidates that reflect their communities, and continue to exclude women from winnable seats and from policy decision-making, the electorate will respond accordingly.
- Nuclear energy has fizzled in Australia: Nuclear energy barely featured in the six-week campaign, despite the Coalition’s flagship policy being a pledge to build seven nuclear power plants to deliver a 44 per cent cut to electricity prices, with the first operational within a decade. It was the most ambitious policy the Dutton-led Opposition had released in three years, in terms of scale, investment, and promised national legacy. The McKell Institute was among many to question its feasibility, and the Opposition’s own reluctance to promote it suggests they had little confidence in its viability or its appeal to voters.
- Working from home is here to stay: The Coalition’s anti–work from home stance were aimed at “othering” Canberra public servants, but many people saw it as an attack on flexible working conditions they don’t want to lose. The backlash dominated social media, talkback radio, and nightly news coverage.
Throughout the 2025 election campaign, cost of living has been front of mind for voters. So we modelled what a change of government could mean for the back pocket of Australian workers who are covered by an award.
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