World Tour: Australia’s political shake-up

LINDSAY MAST, HOST: Next up: Elections in Australia.

Voters there head to the polls May 3rd to choose their next national leaders. Top concerns are housing costs, energy shortages, and the rising cost of living.

NICK EICHER, HOST: But this election isn’t only a battle between major parties. Smaller parties are gaining ground, reshaping the political landscape.

WORLD Reporter Amy Lewis brings us this week’s World Tour special report.

AMY LEWIS: Australians vote on election day because they have to. They exit the polling place and buy a sausage at the fundraising booth because they want to.

AUDIO: Every time there’s an election, Australians love to give themselves a little treat for voting. And that is called the democracy sausage. It’s just a sausage in bread. You can have onions, you can have whatever.

But no one wants to know how the sausage is made. We’re pretty happy to have others slog through government for us as our representatives. That’s why we elect politicians. Australia’s election day is Saturday, May 3rd. But this year many Australians are forgoing the election day democracy sausage by voting early.

ABC NEWS: More than half a million people across the country cast their ballot on Day One of pre-polling, smashing the last record by 70 percent…

All 150 Representatives’ seats and more than half of the senators’ seats are up for grabs this year. Voters write a number next to the parties on the ballot in order of their preference. Twenty years ago, most major party politicians were elected because voters put a 1 next to their party name on the ballot. By 2022, that was rarely the case because voters more often voted first for minor parties. This year more than 30 minor parties have candidates running in the federal election.

That means minor parties will likely hold more sway on contentious issues as Labor and Liberal are forced to form coalitions and alliances.

LYLE SHELTON: For parties like us, I think there’s a real opportunity.

That’s Lyle Shelton. He was WORLD Magazine’s 2016 Daniel of the Year for his work with the Australian Christian Lobby. Now he’s running for the national Senate from New South Wales for a newly re-formed minor party called Family First. A few months ago, his party picked up 4.3 percent in a local election.

SHELTON: Which might not sound a lot, but for a party like us that’s just getting going again, that’s actually very, very good.

Since the last federal election in 2022 costs have increased in Australia but wages have not. Groceries jumped 11 percent and house prices grew by 39 percent.

CHRISTOPHER BROHIER: When we were married, the house that we bought was three times my annual salary.

Christopher Brohier is Family First’s lead Senate candidate from South Australia.

BROHIER: My son is a lawyer, and if he was to buy that same house, he would have to spend about 10 times his annual salary, at least.

The major parties have made housing promises in the form of subsidies and tax cuts that would cost billions of dollars but still leave housing prices high.

Brohier is pushing for lower energy prices, since that will help lower the cost of everything.

BROHIER: Because of the push to renewables, we have deliberately increased the cost of power. So we’re saying we have to turn back from that and use the abundant thermal power that we have in this country which would make a lot cheaper coal, gas, and nuclear.

Voters and candidates alike are talking a lot about financial issues. Brohier says the major and minor party candidates are avoiding the elephant in the room. Gender confusion.

BROHIER: So cost of living affects everybody, but the gender issue cuts across the whole community, and we’re the only ones who are up front talking about that.

In a related issue, Shelton says freedom of speech and freedom of religion are under fire. For the past six years, Shelton has fought ongoing litigation from two drag queens doing library storytimes. They objected to his statement that nothing sexual should ever be near children. The drag queens’ lawyers are paid for with taxpayer dollars. Shelton’s are not. And he’s not the only Christian in court on LGBT-related hate-speech issues.

SHELTON: So freedom of speech, freedom of religion, faith based schools, their ability to employ staff who share the ethos of the parent community, those things are very much under threat….

U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff policies and DOGE cuts have affected Australians’ view of what change looks like. Early polls showed Liberal leader Peter Dutton squeaking out a victory—until he suggested cutting the Education Department. Then his colleague Jacinta Price used a phrase the media latched onto.

PRICE: We can make Australia great again.

Pundits started comparing Dutton to President Trump.

SHELTON: I think it’s spooked a lot of Australians, because Australians, you know, they like “steady as she goes.” So I think it’s probably, you know, backfired a little bit for the conservatives here.

Brohier doesn’t see that as all bad.

BROHIER: What’s happening in America is good in my submission, because it’s disruptive. And we have to think the world is not a stable place. We have to stand on our own two feet.

For Brohier, that includes energy independence.

BROHIER: So we extract coal, sell it to China, which then uses our coal to build wind turbines and then sells the wind turbines back to us. And we think we’re doing a good thing.

Shelton describes Labor and Liberal party leaders as weak and woke men who aren’t willing to tackle the big challenges Australia faces.

SHELTON: I think if Australians had leaders who had some courage, I think mainstream Australians would respond very well…

Early voting exit polls show voters are concerned about extreme conservatism creeping into Australia. That will affect the moderately conservative Liberal party vote and drive minor parties forward. The prime minister might not come from a minor party this year. But the prevalence of minor parties could change the makeup of the democracy sausages.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Amy Lewis.

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