Leaders express confidence as poll finish line in sight
Dominic Giannini and Andrew Brown |
Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton are scrambling to convince undecided voters to swing towards them on the penultimate day of campaigning before Australians head to the polls.
Public polling has Labor in the driver’s seat to form government – with an outside shot at retaining majority – but the prime minister insists the government isn’t getting ahead of itself, after being scarred by an upset defeat to Scott Morrison in 2019.
“My job is to maximise Labor’s vote in the next 48 hours,” he told reporters in Brisbane early Friday ahead of Saturday’s vote.
“I don’t take the Australian people for granted. I’m working with guts out to ensure there’s a majority government tomorrow.”
The opposition leader remained confident the coalition could still pick up seats, despite recent dire polling.
“This has really got the echoes of 2019 where the published polling was very different than what we’ve seen in the marginal seats – the response that we’ve had at pre-poll has been pretty remarkable,” Mr Dutton told Nine’s Today Show.
The opposition leader defended shadow treasurer Angus Taylor amid rumours of internal party dissent over his handling of tax policy and a lukewarm reception to the coalition’s policy costings on Thursday.
The budget would be in worse nick for the first two years under the coalition, with higher debt, before a $40 billion better bottom line over four years.
“We’ve got strong leadership and Angus Taylor will be a great treasurer for our country,” Mr Dutton told Sky News, after visiting a market in Adelaide.
Mr Albanese will hit Queensland, Victoria and Tasmania on Friday as part of his six-state whirlwind tour in the election’s final week, while Mr Dutton started the day in Adelaide, where the coalition is looking to win Boothby and sandbag Sturt.
On Friday, the prime minister again visited Mr Dutton’s Brisbane-based marginal electorate of Dickson which Labor contends is winnable.
Despite the slim margin of less that two per cent, and Mr Dutton saying he expects to retain his seat as he tries to defy history and deliver a coalition government. No party has formed government after one term in opposition since 1931.
But the coalition is trailing in national opinion polls, and a seat-by-seat poll released on Thursday by YouGov revealed the opposition could sink to its lowest seat total since the 1940s.
YouGov predicted Labor was on course for 52.9 per cent of the national two party preferred vote, ahead of the coalition on 47.1 per cent, with the government picking up 84 seats against 47 for the opposition.
On Friday, a Freshwater Strategy Poll published by The Australian Financial Review pegged Labor at 51.5 per cent, against 48.5 per cent for the coalition on a two party basis, giving Labor 74 seats and the coalition 64.
Given a high number of undecided voters, government ministers Richard Marles and Jason Clare on Friday said the final result might not be known until late on Saturday.
Mr Dutton told Nine he expected there would be some “big surprises” on the night.
While some campaign techniques have stayed the same, the 2025 election has been defined by a shift of party leaders appearing on podcasts, with new media and online influencers having a large role.
Hannah Ferguson, Cheek Media Co chief executive and co-host of the Big Small Talk podcast, said 2025 was the first election where political parties realised the influence of large online audiences, which had been untapped.
Mr Albanese has made several podcast appearances throughout the year, including with Abbie Chatfield and the Betoota Advocate, while Mr Dutton has been on podcasts with businessman Mark Bouris and Olympian Sam Fricker.
AAP
