Election 2025: Which issues matter most

As we reach the ‘business end’ of the 2025 Federal Election campaign, you may have a clear idea who you wish to vote for and why. Yet that’s not the case for everyone, with The Guardian suggesting that nearly 47% of Australian voters remain undecided or open to changing their vote. Some voters will not decide until they enter the polling booth on 3 May. Whether you have a clear idea of the party that deserves your support, or you are still shopping around, as we have done in the past, Retirement Essentials has compiled a brief summary of each of the three major parties’ promises that most affect older Australians.

What’s not in this summary are the policies of the minor parties, such as One Nation and the Trumpet of Patriots. Similarly, there is no summary of the position of individual teal candidates as they are not a party and hold different views on many of the main issues. The information on these candidates is readily available on their websites and will no doubt be coming through your letterbox as we speak.

Retirement Essentials is also not offering an opinion on the policies of any of the parties, nor a view on who should win your support. Our democracy thrives based upon the assumption that each individual is capable of reaching a reasonable conclusion and voting however they want.

It’s also worth noting that whilst the following table shows a comparison of the promises as they relate to older Australians, many retirees are vitally interested in positive outcomes for all ages and so they will vote on policies that help their younger family members and friends.

Health
LIBERAL-NATIONAL PARTY (LNP) Coalition ‘Getting Australia Back on Track’	A promise to match Labor’s $8.5 billion bulk billing promise ‘dollar-for-dollar’. To permanently restore the number of subsidised mental health sessions from 10 to 20 for people with a mental health care plan..
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY (ALP) ‘Building Australia’s Future’	To invest $8.5 billion more into Medicare to have nine out of 10 GP visits bulk-billed by 2030. An expansion of the urgent care clinic network by 50 new centres by mid-2026. Mental health initiatives that concentrate on services for youth mental health
AUSTRALIAN GREENS ‘A Future for All of Us’	Increase access to bulk-billing appointments by boosting incentives to GPs and raising Medicare patient rebates for longer appointments. Provide free healthcare by setting up 1,000 free healthcare clinics across Australia. Provide universal mental health care with a Medicare Card. Include dental services in Medicare.

PBS/medicines
LIBERAL-NATIONAL PARTY (LNP) Coalition ‘Getting Australia Back on Track’	To also match the $690 million promise to slash the price of PBS-listed medicines to $25.
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY (ALP) ‘Building Australia’s Future’	Decrease the price of PBS-listed medicines from $31.60 to $25, at a cost to the budget of $690 million.
AUSTRALIAN GREENS ‘A Future for All of Us’	Provide free or affordable PBS medicines to anyone with a Medicare card. Make PBS medications free for concession card holders. Reduce the cost of PBS medicines for all other Medicare card holders to $7.70

Aged Care A new Aged Care Act will come into force on 1 July 2025 with a much greater emphasis on the rights of older people to get the care that best suits their needs. This policy had bi-partisan support from the LNP:
LIBERAL-NATIONAL PARTY (LNP) Coalition ‘Getting Australia Back on Track’	The Aged Care policy from the Coalition is descriptive at this stage of the campaign. It hopes to deliver independent and dignified aged care, including:Funding a sustainable aged care system that is flexible to individual circumstances and provides as much choice as possible. Assisting older Australians wanting to access home care packages to stay in their homes for longer.
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY (ALP) ‘Building Australia’s Future’	In March, Labor announced a $2.6 billion pay rise for aged-care nurses in addition to previous pay increases.
AUSTRALIAN GREENS ‘A Future for All of Us’	Achieve reduced waiting times by uncapping the total number of Home Care Packages. Ensure timely access to care by funding Aged Care Assessment Teams to process applications within 30 days.

Finance/superannuation
LIBERAL-NATIONAL PARTY (LNP) Coalition ‘Getting Australia Back on Track’	The Coalition has concerns about the ‘Better Targeted’ legislation, specifically unrealised capital gains, and suggests that it should be indexed.
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY (ALP) ‘Building Australia’s Future’	‘Better Targeted’ Superannuation Concessions are scheduled to start from 1 July 2025. This will reduce concessions for certain earnings for superannuation balances above $3 million with a .30% concessional tax rate applied This measure is not yet law.
AUSTRALIAN GREENS ‘A Future for All of Us’	Nothing definitive – according to the Greens, more initiatives will be released soon.

Age Pension/entitlements/ services
LIBERAL-NATIONAL PARTY (LNP) Coalition ‘Getting Australia Back on Track’	The Coalition says it will find areas of ‘waste’ in the public service and remove 41,000 jobs to save taxpayer money.
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY (ALP) ‘Building Australia’s Future’	Labor has not announced any election commitments specific to government services.
AUSTRALIAN GREENS ‘A Future for All of Us’	Provide a guaranteed earlier retirement by lowering the pension age to 65. Deliver targeted benefits to older women, who are disproportionately affected by poverty and precarious work in later life. Create a fairer system by introducing a consistent taper rate of 60 cents per dollar across all payments, ensuring no one is penalised unfairly for earning additional income. Increase Centrelink staffing levels.

Housing
LIBERAL-NATIONAL PARTY (LNP) Coalition ‘Getting Australia Back on Track’	The Coalition has promised first homebuyers who purchase a newly built home will be able to deduct the interest on their mortgages from their taxes for five years. Buyers would be able to deduct the interest paid on up to $650,000 of their mortgage.
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY (ALP) ‘Building Australia’s Future’	Labor will spend $10 billion to build 100,000 homes exclusively for sale to first home buyers. It will also give all first home buyers access to 5 per cent mortgage deposits, with Commonwealth guarantees exempting them from Lenders Mortgage Insurance. Labor will also expand its Help-to-Buy scheme, legislated last year, where the federal government covers part of the cost of a home for eligible first home buyers, and takes an equity stake that can be bought out at a later date.
AUSTRALIAN GREENS ‘A Future for All of Us’	Establishment of a National Renters Protection Authority with powers to investigate breaches, issue fines, and advocate for tenants. Ensure that unlimited rent increases are illegal, by freezing rents for two yearsRenters would be able to get solar installed at their rental property, with upfront costs paid by the government. Legislated lower mortgage rates (1% above Reserve Bank cash rate)

Cost of living/fuel
LIBERAL-NATIONAL PARTY (LNP) Coalition ‘Getting Australia Back on Track’	Matching the $150 ALP Energy promise. In addition, a 25 cent reduction on the cost of a litre of fuel, by temporarily halving the fuel excise for 12 months.
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY (ALP) ‘Building Australia’s Future’	A renewed rebate on household and small business power bills of $150, in two instalments, automatically applied from July this year .
AUSTRALIAN GREENS ‘A Future for All of Us’	A pledge to make supermarket price gouging illegal, resulting in cheaper groceries

Further information on a wider range of policy initiatives can be found here:

https://www.liberal.org.au/our-plan

https://alp.org.au/policies

https://greens.org.au/platform

ABC News has also created a comparative table between the LNP and ALP policies here.