The Red Wave: The 2025 Federal Election

In this extended episode, we analysed the historic 2025 federal election, where Anthony Albanese led the Labor Party to one of the most decisive victories in Australian political history – winning 94 seats, achieving a 3 per cent swing, and securing 55 per cent of the two-party-preferred vote. We explored how Labor broke new ground in metropolitan seats across Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and beyond, while the Liberal Party collapsed under Peter Dutton’s disastrous leadership – becoming the first sitting federal Opposition Leader to lose his seat. With a massive lower house majority and a favourable Senate, we discuss what Labor can do with its unprecedented political capital, the implications for progressive reform, and why this election marked not just a change of government, but a generational shift in Australian politics. We also assessed the setbacks faced by the Australian Greens and the mixed results for community independents, the rise of the Muslim Vote, and what the future holds for a fractured conservative movement. #AUSPOL #Election2025

This podcast series has been compiled into the book, The Red Wave: The New Politics review of the 2025 Australian federal election, available through Amazon:

• Amazon: https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B0F93G666V 

Support New Politics! Just $5 per month:

• Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/newpolitics
• Substack: https://newpolitics.substack.com 

Song listing:

1. ‘Good Stuff’, The B-52s.
2. ‘Atomic Moog 2000’, Coldcut
3. ‘Spitfire’, Public Service Broadcasting
4. ‘Confessions Of A Window Cleaner’, Ed Kuepper.
5. ‘Stranger in Moscow’, Tame Impala.
6. ‘Humiliation’, The National.

In the final week of the 2025 federal election campaign, we unpacked Peter Dutton’s total campaign collapse, Anthony Albanese’s edge in the polls, and why a Labor victory looked inevitable. From debate disasters and media blunders to desperate culture war tactics and vanishing credibility, we explored the major moments, analysed the role of independents and the Australian Greens, and predicted the election result. It's been chaotic, it's been revealing – and was not looking good for the Coalition. #AUSPOL #Election2025

This podcast series has been compiled into the book, The Red Wave: The New Politics review of the 2025 Australian federal election, available through Amazon:

• Amazon: https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B0F93G666V

Support New Politics, just $5 per month: 

• Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/newpolitics
• Substack: https://newpolitics.substack.com 

Song listing:

1. ‘Good Stuff’, The B-52s.
2. ‘Confessions Of A Window Cleaner’, Ed Kuepper.
3. ‘State Of The Art (A.E.I.O.U.)’, Jim James.
4. ‘Won’t Get Fooled Again’, The Who (remix).
5. ‘The Last Goodbye’, Odesza. 
6. ‘Humiliation’, The National.

Week four of the federal election campaign shrank to three working days – bookended by Easter Monday and ANZAC Day – and was upended by the death of Pope Francis, briefly halting campaigns by Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton. Dutton’s own mis-fires – touting a $21 billion defence splurge, scrapping the 20 per cent HECS discount, axing EV subsidies, and floating an antisemitism-focused citizenship test – clashed with mortgage-stressed voters hearing nonstop “cost-of-living crisis” headlines despite inflation falling and wages rising. Fresh opinion polls put Labor ahead at around 54–46, leaving the only real question of whether there would be majority Labor government or minority backed by Teals and Greens, while climate, NDIS, housing and Gaza stayed off the radar. #AUSPOL #Election2025

This podcast series has been compiled into the book, The Red Wave: The New Politics review of the 2025 Australian federal election, available through Amazon:

• Amazon: https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B0F93G666V 

Support New Politics, just $5 per week! 

• Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/newpolitics
• Substack: https://newpolitics.substack.com 

Song listing:

1. ‘Good Stuff’, The B-52s.
2. ‘Godless’, The Dandy Warhols.
3. ‘Feels Right’, Biig Piig.
4. ‘Let Me Entertain You’, Robbie Williams.
5. ‘The Hard Road’, Hilltop Hoods.
6. ‘Humiliation’, The National.

In this extended episode, we dissected week three of the 2025 federal election campaign, where Peter Dutton’s Coalition descended further into chaos – facing a credibility crisis driven by misinformation, fear campaigns about Russia, China and Indonesia, and a housing stunt involving his own son. While Anthony Albanese and Labor’s upbeat campaign launch in Perth focused on economic progress, the Liberals doubled down on culture wars and cuts. As housing affordability, foreign policy blunders, and leadership failures dominated the headlines, opinion polls showed the Coalition slipping further behind – raising serious questions about whether Dutton was fit to lead or if this election was already lost for the opposition. #AUSPOL #Election2025

This podcast series has been compiled into the book, The Red Wave: The New Politics review of the 2025 Australian federal election, available through Amazon:

• Amazon: https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B0F93G666V 

Support New Politics, just $5 per month: 

• Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/newpolitics
• Substack: https://newpolitics.substack.com 

Song listing:

1. ‘Good Stuff’, The B-52s.
2. ‘Mysterious Ways’, U2 (cover version by In Sympathy).
3. ‘La femme d’Argent, AIR.
4. ‘Wild’, Spoon.
5. ‘Humiliation’, The National.

We analysed the turbulent second week of the 2025 federal election campaign, where the Liberal–National Coalition’s strategy descended into chaos. The week’s headline issue – the Port of Darwin lease to a Chinese company – was rebranded by Peter Dutton as a national security crisis, only to be politically outplayed by Anthony Albanese, exposing the Coalition’s hypocrisy in approving the deal back in 2015. Behind the scenes, internal sabotage from the NSW Liberal division threatened Dutton’s campaign, allegedly paving the way for Angus Taylor as a post-election leader. Meanwhile, the Coalition’s hasty withdrawal of its work-from-home policy revealed its lack of preparation and voter resonance, while the credibility of Kooyong candidate Amelia Hamer was shattered by revelations she owns multi-million-dollar properties despite claiming to be a struggling renter. Internationally, both major parties remained silent on Israel’s war crimes in Gaza – only the Greens and a few independents called out the massacre of Palestinian aid workers – while Penny Wong and Albanese offered evasive platitudes. On the climate front, Albanese faced criticism for Labor’s approval of new coal and gas expansions, while Dutton made headlines for kicking a football into the head of an Iraqi–Australian cameraman – a moment symbolic of his broader political insensitivity. As polls continued to favour Labor, global instability, Trump-style economic chaos, and Coalition disunity threaten to derail the opposition’s chances. #AUSPOL #Election2025

This podcast series has been compiled into the book, The Red Wave: The New Politics review of the 2025 Australian federal election, available through Amazon:

• Amazon: https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B0F93G666V 

Support New Politics, just $5 per month!: 

• Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/newpolitics
• Substack: https://newpolitics.substack.com 

Song listing:

1. ‘Good Stuff’, The B-52s.
2. ‘Bonnie and Clyde’, Serge Gainsbourg (French Accent Remix)
3. ‘Familiar’, Agnes Obel.
4. ‘Wild’, Spoon.
5. ‘Bumper’, The Cannanes.
6. ‘Humiliation’, The National.

In this bumper episode, we analysed the first week of the 2025 federal election campaign, covering rising tensions over Chinese research vessels and national security scare campaigns, Dutton’s Kirribilli House gaffe, and the resurgence of Cold War-era rhetoric, and Prime Minister Albanese’s responses. We spoke with Ellie Smith, the Climate 200-backed independent challenging Dutton in Dickson, and explored how independents and minor parties will reshape the next Parliament. We examined the political fallout from new US tariffs on Australian imports, the media’s obsession with whether voters are ‘better off than three years ago’, and looked at the Coalition’s misleading claims on energy prices and its culture war against the education system. #AUSPOL #Election2025

This podcast series has been compiled into the book, The Red Wave: The New Politics review of the 2025 Australian federal election, available through Amazon:

• Amazon: https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B0F93G666V 

Support New Politics, just $5 per month: 

• Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/newpolitics
• Substack: https://newpolitics.substack.com 

Song listing:

1. ‘Good Stuff’, The B-52s.
2. ‘Blue Monday’, New Order.
3. ‘Connected’, Stereo MCs.
4. ‘All Along the Watchtower’, Afterhere.
5. ‘Humiliation’, The National.

The federal election was announced for May 3, and we unpacked Treasurer Jim Chalmers’ pre-election Budget – marked by cautious politics, modest tax cuts, and the usual barrage from conservative media. Despite early signals of a deficit, the Budget offered little reform, continuing Labor’s trend of incrementalism and risk-averse fiscal policy, with no major action on tax reform, resource royalties, or climate change – even as record-breaking temperatures highlight the urgency. We also analysed the Coalition’s chaotic Budget reply, Angus Taylor’s puzzling opposition to tax cuts, Peter Dutton’s populist stunts on fuel excise and nuclear energy, and the broader political landscape – from rising corporate profits and stagnant welfare to Labor’s silence on Palestine and environmental backdowns. #AUSPOL #Election2025

This podcast series has been compiled into the book, The Red Wave: The New Politics review of the 2025 Australian federal election, available through Amazon:

• Amazon: https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B0F93G666V 

Support New Politics, just $5 per month: 

• Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/newpolitics
• Substack: https://newpolitics.substack.com 

Song listing:

• ‘Good Stuff’, The B-52s.
• ‘Crying’, Strawpeople.
• ‘Trouble’, Vox Noir.
• ‘Teardrop’, Massive Attack.
• ‘Humiliation’, The National.