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Australia: Political Developments and Data 2024

Mid-Term Blues: Labor Seeks a Path Out of Its Slump

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2026

Marija Taflaga and
Josh Sunman
Marija Taflaga*
Affiliation:
The Australian National University, Australia
Josh Sunman
Affiliation:
Flinders University, Australia
*
Email: marija.taflaga@anu.edu.au
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Abstract

This article examines key political developments in Australia during 2024, a year characterised by mid-term challenges for the Albanese Labor Government. The databook entry covers regional elections in four jurisdictions, where Labor governments suffered defeats in Queensland and the Northern Territory while retaining power elsewhere. The article discusses a Cabinet reshuffle and institutional changes including electoral redistributions and new parliamentary standards bodies. While there were changes to personnel within the party, this produced no changes to the gender composition of legislature and only minimal changes to the party system, with the exception of two new single-member parties in the Senate. National policy issues centred on persistent cost-of-living pressures, including housing, and foreign policy challenges, including the Gaza conflict and continued commitment to the AUKUS submarine programme.

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Political Data Yearbook , Volume 64 , Issue 1 , December 2025, pp. 15 - 26
Copyright
Copyright © 2025 European Consortium for Political Research

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