Australians will be voting within the next two months. As the pre-election phony war rolls on, what are the most important issues to voters? Australian voters have some pretty firm ideas about what matters most to them going into election 2025.
On pretty much all of them, Labor is toast.
Cost-of-living increasingly dominates voter concerns with several related issues rising significantly since mid-2022. The most important issue for electors is clearly ‘Keeping day-to-day living costs down’ up 7% points to 57%. ‘Keeping interest rates down’ up 8% points to 19%, and ‘Managing immigration and population growth’ surging 8% points to 14%. The sharp rise in immigration-related concerns is during a period in which Australia has had record high immigration and housing affordability issues have been at the forefront for many Australians.
At the same time, public anxiety about safety has escalated significantly with ‘Reducing crime and maintaining law and order’ jumping 10% points to 23% – the largest increase for any issue.
On all of those, Labor doesn’t have a leg to stand on. Cost of living has skyrocketed under Albanese. Immigration has hit astonishing highs: Australia has imported more people than the entire population of Adelaide in just the last two years. And there’s no sign of Labor putting the brakes on any time soon: without the sugar-hit of mass immigration, Albanese would face the embarrassment of presiding over a full recession.
Labor know perfectly well how badly they’re rooted on bread and butter issues, so they’re trying to make the election running on Medicare, specifically bulk billing. There’s two big problems with how this plays into voter priorities. While ‘Improving health services and hospitals’ remains a Top Five issue, a token sop on bulk billing isn’t going to make much difference when Australians are waiting weeks for a GP appointment, years for elective surgery and emergency departments are full to bursting, with ambulances waiting hours just to even admit patients.
More importantly, splurging nine billion dollars of taxpayer’s money cuts across another voter priority: ‘Reducing the taxes you and your family pay’.
But behind the statistics are a whole lot of stories.
“People are struggling to breathe”
[Jason Horton] lives in the electorate of Lyons, which stretches from the state’s north-west through the Central Highlands to the south-east tip of the island.
It is a mixture of socio-economic groupings and demographics.
Mr Horton says the three most important focus areas for him in the 2025 federal election are cost of living, energy and healthcare.
Across the country, as the pseudo-campaign ramps up ahead of a poll date, Mr Horton’s concerns are echoed by voters in safe and marginal seats alike […]
In its February 2025 Mood of the Nation survey, research firm SECNewgate Australia found 81 per cent of Australians reported management of cost of living was the number one issue to influence their vote.
Albo is rooted, then.
Another deadly issue for Labor is energy policy. This ties directly to cost of living: electricity prices have rocketed up in recent years, with increases of up to one-third following one after another. This year, a 50 per cent increase already seems locked in. Australians can clearly see why: Labor’s obsession with ‘Net Zero’ and ‘renewables’.
Over in Western Australia, Tangney is the state’s most marginal seat, held by the ALP with a margin of 2.8 per cent.
At the last election, the ALP picked up the seat with a community-focused campaign.
Richard Brown has lived in the electorate for eight years. He wants to hear more from the candidates about energy policies and how they are going to tackle cost-of-living pressures […]
It’s an issue that also exercises the mind of Meg Southcombe in Newcastle.
Both her parents work in the mining industry at nearby Muswellbrook, where the mine is transitioning to closure.
But the single biggest issue is cost of living. This is the deadly political question that will almost certainly condemn Albanese to just the second one-term government in Australian history: Are you better off than you were three years ago?
Everyone knows the answer.
Jacob Czarnoch lives in the outer suburb of Melton and works two jobs – in hospitality and cabinet making.
Like most interviewed by the ABC, he says cost of living and the housing and rental crises are top of mind.
“People are struggling to breathe,” the 29-year-old says.
And they know who to blame.
