Navigating the Labor Landslide: Insights, Tips, and Tools to support your organisation’s advocacy
On 3 May 2025, Australia re-elected Anthony Albanese in a historic victory for the Australian Labor Party—increasing their majority to overwhelmingly control the House of Representatives.
By Neil Pharaoh
With hindsight, maybe more people should have seen it coming. But not even the most trusted of polls expected such a landslide.
It wasn’t long ago, in the opening months of 2025, that Labor was trailing Peter Dutton in the polls. But then, Cyclone Alfred hit QLD and NSW, which led to the LNP spiralling and losing what should have been an unlosable election.
So what happened, what’s to come, and what should you be doing?
The Election
In some seats, to say there was a swing towards Labor would be an understatement.
In Braddon (TAS), there was a 15.1% TPP swing to Labor.
In Griffith (QLD), Labor won the seat following a 20.5% TPP swing from the Greens.
And, even in Opposition Leader Peter Dutton’s own seat of Dickson (QLD), Labor defied Dutton’s incumbency advantage with a 7.7% TPP swing to win the seat.
On one hand, Labor surpassed expectations. On the other, the LNP (and Greens, for that matter), failed to meet them.
While political reviews of the election will ultimately uncover what worked (and what didn’t), it is clear that Labor learnt their lessons from 2019 and deployed some key campaigning tactics:
Strict messaging: focusing on a small number of key policy areas, rather than succumbing to pressure to fight the campaign on multiple fronts.
Appealing to voter concerns: further to the above point, their positions focused on what regular Australians were feeling: the pinch of cost-of-living, challenges in the healthcare system, and the uncertainty of actions taken overseas.
Local campaigns: all politics is local, and candidates understood that to connect with voters, they had to meet them in their communities.
These points are important to note because they aren’t just relevant to political parties, but also to social sector organisations. What are the strict messages that your organisation will stick to? How do you appeal to government concerns? How can your organisation campaign locally and demonstrate your impact in local electorates?
Labor’s re-elected—should we expect ‘more of the same’?
Anthony Albanese remaining as Prime Minister may make it feel like there’s been no real change in the government. In some ways, that may be true. But in many, there’ll be a significant upheaval – which means opportunity to help shape the direction of the 48th Parliament of Australia.
New MPs and Senators: Fresh faces means new people to engage with. The new cohort of MPs and Senators (and their staff!) are all new people who could become the champions for your organisation (or potential blocks if you don’t engage…).
New Ministers: The Labor Party decides on who becomes a Minister based on considerations like how many MPs won seats in each state, what party Faction or Union they come from, a gender-balance, as well as other considerations like expertise, interests, and relationships. With the retirement of some senior Ministers, and a significant shake-up of the current representation, we’re going to see a different looking frontbench[RP1] .
New Policies: New Ministers mean new policies. Whilst many will be guided by the work of their predecessors and shared-values, a fresh viewpoint often leads to new policy ideas and priorities. It’s a great opportunity to establish your organisation as a thought leader and set the vision of the government.
New Departments: Given the Ministerial shake-up, there’s a good chance that departments will go through a ‘Machinery-of-Government’ change (known as a MoG), which restructures departments to better fit the needs of the government.
·More ambition (??): We don’t yet know how Labor is going to approach this new term of government, but given their increased mandate it’s likely that they’ll be more open to taking bigger risks. After the failure of the Voice, Albo had to spend the last term proving to Australians that he could actually govern. With that specter no longer looming, Albo may be more willing to let loose. Only time will tell.
What does this mean for your organisation?
In a word, opportunity.
If your organisation has been already engaging, you’ve got a head start. If this is the start of your engagement journey, you can benefit from the refresh.
Introduce your organisation to each of the new MPs. Establish your organisation as a thought-leader in your space and help set the policy agenda of the day. The First 100 Days of a government are where they hear from organisations, declare their vision, and begin to deliver on their promises. It’s an important time for engaging.
That means congratulations letters to everyone who won—regardless of party. There’s no use putting all your eggs in the one basket, given even Opposition members can help get issues unstuck along the line.
Similarly, commiserations letters to the candidates that you already have a relationship with who lost their seats can go a long way. Post-defeat, there’s not a lot of love for former MPs—but they don’t usually leave politics (instead becoming a staffer, on a government-appointed board, or even running again)—so furthering that relationship can help you in the long run. Besides, it’s a nice thing to do anyway!
And consider how your organisational priorities align with those of the government. Labor’s election commitments are a clear indicator of their priorities for this term: identifying how your organisation can help them to deliver their promises can put you in prime position for funding or policy success.
As the 48th term of parliament begins, there’s really no better time to begin engaging. Tanck’s here to simplify things and guide you through the process. Reach out to the Tanck Team if you’re looking to get started, refresh your strategy, or have any questions about government engagement.
Tanck offers advisory services in government engagement, advocacy, stakeholder strategy, and communications.
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