General News
1 April, 2025
Federal election set for early next month
Australians across the country will be heading to the polls after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced the Federal Election for early next month.
Set for Saturday, May 3, whoever takes government will be decided across 150 electorates around the nation.
“Your vote has never been more important,” the Prime Minister said.
When the counting stops on millions of votes, whoever holds 76 of those seats will be Australia’s new government.
While some electorates could decide which party forms government Mallee, which encompasses 36.7 percent of the state, isn’t likely to be among them.
Established in 1949, Mallee has consistently been held by the Nationals or its earlier iteration the Australian Country Party.
In 2022, the Nationals’ Anne Webster retained the seat with 69 percent of the vote.
In the upcoming election the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) predict the electorate will remain a safe Nationals seat, requiring a 18.99 percent swing in the votes to see Labor take the electorate.
While in the 2022 election Labor saw slight preference in and around Maryborough, the Nationals were preferred in the rest of the electorate. It’s a challenge that Labor candidate Greg Olsen recognises.
“I don’t think I’ve got unrealistic expectations to try to at least put a bit of pressure on that margin,” he said.
Although the Mallee seat is a lot more than two parties. Among the candidates running for the seat are:
Anne Webster, the Nationals.
Greg Olsen, Labor.
Nicole Rowan, Greens.
Chris Lahy, Australia Citizens Party.
Vaughan Williams, One Nation.
Ashleigh Gray, Family First.
Jeff Barry, Libertarian.
Described as Australia’s largest election ever, Australian Electoral Commissioner Jeff Pope said the Prime Minister’s announcement was the starting gun for their work to begin.
“There are more voters on the electoral roll than ever before, there’ll be more voting venues than ever — both within Australia and overseas, there’ll be greater accessibility options than we’ve ever had, and we again need around 100,000 staff to deliver it,” Mr Pope said.
According to the AEC, there are 710,000 more people on the electoral role compared to the 2022 federal election.
“We’re ready to go. You also need to be ready as well — check your enrolment now and please consider putting up your hand for paid election work. aec.gov.au allows you to do those things in just minutes,” he said.
Enrolment closes at 8 pm local time on Monday, April 7.