In securing the historic election result, Anthony Albanese has ticked off some firsts: he is now the first PM since John Howard to be re-elected, the first Labor PM since Bob Hawke to return to office, and Labor is now the first party of government to expand its majority the second time around, as Crikey’s Rich James notes.

Speaking in front of supporters in his Sydney electorate of Grayndler in the wake of his win, Albanese declared that, “Today, the Australian people have voted for Australian values: for fairness, aspiration and opportunity for all; for the strength to show courage in adversity and kindness to those in need”.

The AEU have since applauded the ‘renewed mandate’ to support a fair and inclusive education system.

“The AEU congratulates Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and the Labor Government on its historic election result,” AEU President Correna Haythorpe said.

“The Prime Minister’s vision ‘no one held back, no one left behind’ captures the very essence of public education and reflects what teachers and education support staff work for every day.”

Haythorpe went on to say this ethos aligned with the union’s ‘shared belief’ that every child deserves access to a high-quality, fully-funded public education, regardless of their background or circumstances.

NSWTF made its alliance clear on voting day:

“Polling Booths are OPEN! Today is a choice between a Federal Government that will deliver full funding for NSW public schools and a Coalition with a track record of cutting funding for public schools. It's time to use your vote! #dontriskdutton #RebuildWithTAFE #ForEveryChild,” the teachers' union posted on X.

As commentators scramble to unravel exactly what went so wrong for the Coalition, some have deemed Dutton’s 2025 election campaign as ‘among the worst since federation’.

“I know of none more shambolic. Barely a day passed without some new misstep or about-face, some embarrassing revelation about a candidate, some new policy condemned by experts as half-baked, uncosted or worse,” Professor Frank Bongiorno from ANU wrote for The Conversation.

“Three years of waiting for Labor and Anthony Albanese to fall over instead of doing serious policy work came home to roost, and the chicken concerned was very ugly.”

That said, Labor’s campaign was “generally nothing to wrote home about”, he argued.

The academic concludes that despite the pressures bearing down on Labor (namely, the fact that its majority was the narrowest of any first-term government since 1913, it faced hostility from the ‘normally friendly’ Victoria, lost momentum through the Voice referendum, plus interest rates intensified mortgage stress alongside widespread cost of living woes, growing unease about immigration levels, and ongoing frustration over the lack of housing), Peter Dutton and the Liberals ultimately “failed to do the hard yakka on policy, ideology, image or strategy”.

Taking to the stage in Brisbane on Saturday night, Dutton was gracious in defeat and apologised for his campaign, which he conceded “clearly wasn’t good enough”, before noting “I accept full responsibility for that”.

Last Friday on election eve, the National Tertiary Education Union warned that Dutton had “quietly committed to stripping away" prac payments to aspiring teachers, student nurses, midwives and social workers.

“The Coalition’s costings, released yesterday (Thursday), reveal if elected they will cut $556 million in ‘Commonwealth Prac Payments’ – stripping away cost-of-living support for those studying to become teachers … over the next four years,” the union’s national president Dr Alison Barnes flagged at the time.

“If Peter Dutton wants to take money out of the pockets of trainee nurses, midwives, social workers and teachers they should look them in the eyes and say it, not hide it in an eleventh hour document that’s been dumped to reporters within 48 hours off the poll,” she added.

Barnes said these students were working in areas of “real need for our community and economy” and were not able to earn a living wage while on placement.

“This is just the latest example of where Peter Dutton is targeting students and our universities and TAFEs. Now, however, he has silently committed to taking money out of students’ back pockets.”

The AEU argued that over the past term, the Albanese Government has made “meaningful progress” on “critical education priorities”, including:

  • A clear commitment to fully funding public schools with guaranteed funding rolling out for all schools to achieve 100 per cent of the Schooling Resource Standard (SRS).
  • The Commonwealth Prac Payment, from July this year, providing financial assistance for ITE students as they complete their teaching placements.
  • Student debt relief, which will assist those studying and recently graduated teachers and will provide cost of living relief.

“…there is still work to do to resolve Australia’s teaching workforce shortages. And, to invest in providing high quality teaching and learning facilities for public education,” Haythorpe noted. 

“We look forward to continuing to work with the Albanese Government to achieve these priorities.”

Meanwhile, Independent Schools Australia (ISA) have called for a ‘renewed focus’ on fairness, inclusion, and school choice in national education policy under the re-elected Government. 

Labor’s win offers the Government a clear mandate, but also a clear responsibility, ISA chief executive officer Graham Catt warned. 

“This election, our campaign demonstrated that independent school families are not a political afterthought. They are taxpayers, voters, and active members of their communities – and their voices were heard,” he contended. 

ISA ran targeted digital ads in electorates where “support for divisive policies had grown”, including Melbourne, Brisbane, Ryan, and Griffith.

In all of these, parties that used rhetoric against independent schools “went backwards at the ballot box”, ISA claims.

“We didn’t campaign against any party, we didn’t tell people how to vote,” Catt said.

“We simply shared the facts, told the truth and voters made up their own minds.

“The message is clear: Australians don’t want the blame game. They want a fair go for every student, in every school and their families.”