Australia’s Albanese calls national election for May 3

In a contest set to be dominated by cost-of-living concerns, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has called for a national election on May 3. He wants to run for re-elected Labor Party leaders for a third three-year term.

Albanese said on Friday that the election would have to be a decision between the Liberal Party-led coalition’s proposed spending cuts and his government’s plan to “keep building.”

At a press conference, Albanese stated to reporters, “What I want is a campaign with policy substance and optimism for our country.”

“Australia has my optimism.” One of the key points of this campaign is that.

According to polls, Labor and the Liberal-National Coalition, led by former police detective Peter Dutton, are at odds with one another, making it the first government to serve just one term since 1931.

Labor has lost ground in the polls as a result of its convincing defeat of the centre-right Coalition in the 2022 election as a result of unrest over rising costs of living, including a persistent shortage of affordable housing.

Australia’s housing market has almost doubled between 2002 and 2024, making it one of the least affordable in the world.

More than three-quarters of Australians said they were unhappy with the quality of affordable housing in their area, a 31-point increase over the same period last year, according to a Gallup poll conducted.

Only Turkiye surveyed of the 13 nations, which had a higher proportion of residents who were unhappy with the housing situation.

By the end of the decade, Albanese pledged to oversee the construction of 1.2 million new homes.

However, the government’s construction initiative has started slowly, with the Urban Development Institute of Australia estimating that 400 000 homes will be left out of the target.

Dutton has suggested investing $5 billion ($3.15 billion) to help build 500, 000 new homes, as well as a number of measures to reduce demand, including a two-year ban on foreign investors and temporary residents purchasing real estate.

Dutton claimed on Friday that Australia was “going backwards,” accusing Albanese of being fixated on a referendum that would have established a body to consult parliament on issues relating to indigenous issues rather than fundamental concerns.

He said, “I don’t think we can just afford to continue on this course, and that means we can’t afford three more years of Labor.”

“Labor’s economic policies and shoddy spending have caused Australians to pay more to live.”

Healthcare, immigration, energy, and climate change are among the issues that are expected to be at the forefront of the campaign.

Dutton has suggested shifting the country’s energy mix to nuclear power by building two small modular reactors and seven nuclear power plants, despite Albanese’s pledge to make significant investments in green manufacturing and solar and wind power.

Although the majority of votes will go to Labor or the Coalition, polls indicate that the main parties’ support is at an all-time low, which raises the possibility of a hung parliament.

To form a minority government, Labor and the Coalition would need to negotiate with the left-leaning Australian Greens or independents if they were to win a majority in the 150-seat House of Representatives.