2025 Federal Election Brief

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The next Australian federal election will be held on Saturday, 03 May. In line with tradition, on Friday, 28 March, the Prime Minister requested, and the Governor-General dissolved the House of Representatives and made instruction for the issuing of the writs. The election will be for 150 seats in the House of Representatives and for a ‘half Senate election’ for 6 of the 12 senators in each of the 6 states and for the two senators in each of the ACT and Northern Territory.

House of Representatives and the Senate

Federally, Members of the House of Representatives are elected to three-year terms. Senators representing the states are elected to six-year terms, with half being elected every three years. The four Territory senators are elected for 3-year terms. Senators commence their term on 1 July following a general election.

There is no constitutional requirement that elections for the House of Representatives and state Senators be held simultaneously. These elections are however, generally held concurrently primarily to avoid the duplication of costs.

Changes to Electoral Boundaries

The current parliament has 151 seats, but the next will revert back to 150 seats. The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) announced electoral redistributions which have taken effect from the 4th of March, notably:

NSW: North Sydney electorate abolished (currently held by Independent Kylea Tink).

VIC: Higgins electorate abolished (currently held by ALP’s Dr. Michelle Ananda-Rajah).

WA: A new electorate, Bullwinkel, created. This is notionally held by the ALP.

NT: Changes to boundaries

Key election dates

Once an election is called, there is a minimum campaign period of 33 days prior to election day which occurs on a Saturday. The dates for pre poll are yet to be announced by the AEC, it is expected to be around 2 weeks prior to the election day.