01-05-2025
Watch: Australia's first-time voters have their say
Concerns over the cost of living, climate action, student debt, and the increasing influence of the far-right are key issues for first-time voters in the upcoming Australian federal election.
The power is in the hands of the younger generations for the 2025 election as millennials and generation Z outnumber baby boomers, a shift that could reshape the nation's political landscape.
Around 18 million Australians are set to vote, with 43% of them millennials and generation Z, compared to the 33% representation of baby boomers, data from the Australian Electoral Commission shows.
Among these younger voters is a growing Irish diaspora.
The number of Ireland-born residents in Australia has now passed 100,000, according to the latest figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
Many first-time voters expressed disillusionment with the two-party system, struggling to find positives in either the Labor or Liberal coalition parties.
"I think [Liberal Party leader] Peter Dutton would be worse, but I think there's no positive case for the Labor party either," said 22-year-old architecture student Jasmine Al-Rawi, who recently gained citizenship after relocating from New Zealand.
Whilst it's predicted that generation Z will swing the result to the left, 18-year-old politics student Ava Cavalerie Johnson cautioned against the generalisation of her cohort.
"I don't think it's true that the entire Gen Z population is voting towards the left," she said.
"There are still a lot of conservative beliefs in politics. I think there will be a bigger shift to the left, but I don't think there'll be a full shift."
A 2022 report by the Australian Election Study group indicated a trend among millennials and generation Z voters moving away from the two major parties.
The report stated: "At no time in the 35-year history of the AES has there been such a low level of support for either major party in so large a segment."
However 18-year-old arts and science student Darcy Palmer worries that there is not enough awareness around Australia's unique preferential voting system, which may discourage his peers from voting outside the two major parties.
"A lot of young people will vote for Labor just so Dutton doesn't come in, instead of voting for who they actually want to vote for, like an independent or the Greens," he said.
The result of the US election also weighs heavily on the minds of young voters, many of whom are scared that Australia will follow suit in a shift to the right.
"I'm viewing the current election just in the sense of trying to avoid the situation that's happening over there," said 19-year-old arts student Jessica Louise Smith.
"I feel not as focused on the genuine politics in Australia as I am simply avoiding the worst possible option."
The Australian general election will be held on 3 May.
