With the federal election campaign well under way, both Labor and the Coalition have unveiled a slew of policies in an attempt to attract voters.
Unlike in 2022, when Anthony Albanese ran a “small target” campaign and there were relatively few significant differences between the major parties’ policy offerings, there are some notable contrasts this time around.
Here are the main election promises made by Labor and the Coalition in the lead-up to the 2025 election.
READ MORE: Where Albanese and Dutton have been on the campaign trail
Housing
With Australia in the midst of a housing crisis, both parties are leaning heavily into the area as part of their pitches to voters – although economists are generally united in the assessment that policies will just increase demand and drive up prices.
Labor
Labor will allow first-home buyers to get into the property market with just a 5 per cent deposit without having to pay lenders mortgage insurance (LMI).
It has also promised $10 billion in funding to build 100,000 properties specifically for first-home buyers, and has matched the Coalition’s pledge to ban foreign investors from buying existing homes for two years.
It will also continue a series of other housing policies enacted this term, including the Housing Australia Future Fund, Help to Buy scheme, and National Housing Accord target of building 1.2 million homes by mid-2029.
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Coalition
The Coalition has promised to make the interest payments on the first $650,000 of a mortgage for a new home tax deductible for eligible buyers.
It will also allow people to withdraw $50,000 from their superannuation for a home deposit, and has allocated $5 billion for a fund to speed up essential infrastructure in a move it says will support 500,000 new homes.
It has also promised to ban foreign investors from buying existing homes for two years, scrap the $10 billion Housing Australia Future Fund, and reduce migration intake by 25 per cent.
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Tax and cost of living
Contrasting tax relief has been front and centre since the first day of the campaign, with Albanese and Peter Dutton arguing they have the better plan to handle the cost of living.
Labor
Labor went into the election fresh off the federal budget, when it announced a “modest” tax cut worth about $5 a week when it’s introduced in 2026-27 before doubling to $10 a week the year after.
At the party’s official campaign launch, Albanese also announced an automatic $1000 deduction all workers will be able to claim instead of having to lodge individual claims and receipts for multiple deductions.
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Coalition
The Coalition has promised to repeal Labor’s tax cuts, instead promising to halve the fuel excise for a year to provide cost-of-living relief to motorists.
It has also offered up a temporary tax offset of up to $1200 for low- and middle-income earners who take home less than $144,000. This will only apply for the 2025-26 financial year.
EXPLAINED: What the two major parties’ new tax proposals would mean for you
Energy and climate
Perhaps the most significant policy difference between the two major parties is on energy, thanks to the Coalition’s push for Australia to embrace nuclear power.
Labor
Labor has pledged to extend the energy bill rebates rolled out in the 2024 budget for another six months, providing households with an extra $150 in savings.
It will continue to roll out renewables to meet Australia’s energy needs, with the goal of solar and wind making up 82 per cent of the grid by 2030, with gas and other fossil fuels “firming” up supply.
It’s also announced a $2.3 billion fund to cut the cost of installing battery storage by 30 per cent.
Labor has existing emissions reductions targets for 2030 and 2050 (a 43 per cent cut and net zero respectively), but hasn’t committed to a 2035 goal.
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Coalition
The centrepiece of the Coalition’s energy plan is its proposal to construct seven nuclear reactors around the country.
It says all of the plants would be operational sometime in the 2040s, and would cost $331 billion – although the modelling used for that figure relies on Australia needing and producing significantly less energy than Labor’s plan.
It is also planning to ramp up gas production to meet the energy shortfall in the interim as coal plants shut down and the reactors are built, announcing a $1 billion fund for infrastructure expansion.
It will also introduce an east coast gas reservation, forcing local producers to keep more gas in Australia instead of selling it overseas, and fast-track approval for the North West Shelf gas expansion.
The Coalition has not set emissions reduction targets. While it has previously talked of scrapping and reviewing Labor’s 2030 goal, it says it is committed to net zero by 2050 and the emissions reduction targets Australia signed up to at the Paris climate conference.
The Coalition has also pledged to repeal the New Vehicle Efficiency Standard, which encourages car makers to produce more fuel-efficient vehicles and penalises companies that exceed a set emissions cap.
EXPLAINED: Peter Dutton wants a nuclear future for Australia. Here’s what that might look like
Health
Labor has leant heavily into health – particularly Medicare – during the campaign, seeking to target Dutton for his previous stint as health minister.
Labor
Many of Labor’s signature health policies were announced before the election campaign began, including an $8.5 billion Medicare boost to significantly increase bulk billing rates, and reducing the cost of medicines listed on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) from $31.60 to $25.
Labor will also spend $644 million to expand the Medicare urgent care clinic network with 50 new centres, and $1 billion to build or upgrade dozens of walk-in mental health facilities and train 1200 new workers in the sector.
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Coalition
For the most part, the Coalition has matched Labor’s big health policies, promising to back the $8.5 billion Medicare funding and cut to PBS medicine costs.
On mental health, it is promising $400 million for youth services, and will permanently reintroduce the pandemic-era policy for 20 subsidised mental health sessions for people with a mental health care plan, up from the current 10.
READ MORE: ‘Politicians beware’: Young voters eyeing these five key issues
Education
Education is another area that Labor has sought to target, particularly in relation to childcare and student debt.
Labor
Labor has promised to forgive $16 billion in student debt on June 1 – a 20 per cent cut for everyone with an outstanding HECS-HELP or other similar loan.
It will also establish a $1 billion fund to build and upgrade 160 childcare centres, in addition to its move to provide three days of subsidised childcare for all families.
Labor will also continue to provide fee-free TAFE places.
Coalition
The Coalition will set a target of having 400,000 apprentices and trainees and incentivise businesses to provide those positions.
READ MORE: Even the AEC doesn’t know how many ‘donkey votes’ are cast at the polls
Workplace
A focus on workplace policies has somewhat faded as the campaign has progressed.
Labor
Labor will ban non-compete clauses for workers earning less than $175,000 a year to make it easier for people to change jobs. It is also promising to protect penalty rates in legislation if re-elected.
Coalition
The Coalition has promised to shrink the size of the public service by 41,000 workers over five years through a hiring freeze, natural attrition, and offering voluntary redundancies.
It is also offering up to $20,000 in tax deductions for small businesses to spend on staff meals and entertainment.
It has previously promised to repeal the right-to-disconnect laws introduced in the last parliament, although has said it would keep Labor’s same job, same pay legislation.
It had been promising to force public servants back to the office, but scrapped that policy one week into the campaign.
READ MORE: The 10 closest seats heading into the election
Crime
As a largely state-controlled issue, crime hadn’t been a major talking point until late in the campaign due to an Easter Monday announcement by the Coalition.
Labor
Labor largely wasn’t drawn on the Coalition’s crime announcement, pointing to its own policies it enacted during the last term, including introducing a child sexual offender registry and a crackdown on illegal tobacco being imported into Australia.
It has also made the only major domestic violence pledge of the campaign: $8.6 million in funding for “innovative ” management of perpetrators, including a crackdown on financial abuse.
Coalition
The Coalition promised to allocate $750 million in funding for a range of crime policies, including trialling a new child sex offenders disclosure scheme, an AFP strike force to target illicit drugs, and a national antisemitism taskforce led by the AFP.
It also said it would standardise knife laws and roll out detector wands across the country in conjunction with the states and territories.
READ MORE: How independents will shape the federal election
Defence
While defence has loomed over much of the campaign due to the reported Russian request for an airbase in Indonesia, it took until 10 days before election day for a major announcement by either of the parties.
Labor
Labor has not leant heavily into defence during the campaign. Last year, it promised to increase defence spending by $50.3 billion over a decade, and later announced it would bring some of that forward.
Coalition
The Coalition announced it would boost spending by a further $21 billion by 2030 and lift total defence expenditure to 3 per cent of GDP within the next 10 years.
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