Coalition backers retreat in first Newspoll since election
AAP
Jul 21, 2025, updated Jul 21, 2025
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Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese poses for photographs in his office at Parliament House. Photo: AAP
Support for Labor has crept up as backers of the coalition have retreated, according to the first Newspoll since the May election.
The survey, published in The Australian, showed a 1.4 percentage point rise in Labor’s primary vote since the election to 36 per cent while the coalition slipped from 31.8 per cent to 29 per cent.
The Greens remained steady at 12 per cent, as did the independents and minor parties category on 15 per cent, while One Nation was up 1.6 percentage points to eight per cent.
The 29 per cent primary vote number is the coalition’s lowest reading in a Newspoll survey since November 1985.
The combined Labor and coalition primary vote total – at 65 per cent – is also at its lowest level in Newspoll history.
On a two-party-preferred basis, the Labor government has bolstered its lead of 55.2 per cent to 44.8 per cent on May 3 to 57 per cent to 43 per cent in the Newspoll.
Albanese’s pre-election Newspoll net approval rating of minus 10 improved in the survey published on Monday to zero, with 47 per cent of voters satisfied with his performance and an equal number dissatisfied.
The poll has new coalition leader Sussan Ley’s net approval rating at minus seven, an upgrade from her predecessor Peter Dutton’s minus 24 result, but 23 per cent of respondents indicated it was too early to judge her performance.
The survey of 1264 voters was conducted online between July 14 and July 17.
The 48th parliament has its official opening in Canberra on Tuesday.
MPs and senators were welcomed by Governor-General Sam Mostyn at Government House on Sunday as part of formalities before the start of the new session.
Labor will have an increased majority in the new term, holding 94 of the 150 seats in the House of Representatives after its election triumph on May 3.
Albanese’s priorities
Childcare reform, cutting HECS debt, enshrining penalty rates and initiating a new class of Labor MPs are the prime minister’s priorities as parliament resumes.
Anthony Albanese has backed a greater role for the government in childcare as he prepares to push through legislation tightening up the sector following horrifying allegations of child abuse at Melbourne early learning centres.
Universal affordable childcare was identified by the prime minister during the recent federal election as the one reform he’d most want to be remembered for.
But the accusations levelled against Joshua Brown, whose 70 counts of alleged abuse, including child rape, have raised concerns that the rapid expansion of government subsidies into the sector has not been met with a commensurate increase in safety and scrutiny.
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“Well, it reinforces why you need a stronger commonwealth role in childcare,” Albanese said when asked by AAP whether the case had changed his views on how his universal childcare ambition should be enacted.
Commentators have criticised the current model of handing subsidies to for-profit providers, arguing the incentive to cut costs and boost margins sacrifices standards and oversight.
When asked whether he envisaged the sector being run more like public schools, Albanese said “we’ll see how that evolves”.
“I think it makes sense to have co-location of childcare centres wherever possible in schools. It is just a practical thing to be done.
“If you’re starting again you would completely have co-location of child care.
“I know as a parent, we had a public school in our street but we had to send our son to a different school that was driving distance – a short drive – but the next nearest school, because they had after school care.
“That’s something that people across the board feel as well – that convenience – and that’s part of the productivity agenda.”
But first, Education Minister Jason Clare will introduce legislation giving his department powers to conduct spot checks and pull funding from childcare centres deemed to be consistently failing safety and quality standards.
It’s one of four priorities Albanese identified for his first sitting fortnight back in parliament since his election win.
From Tuesday, the government will also push forward legislation cutting student debt by 20 per cent and enshrine penalty rates into law.
The fourth priority, Albanese, said will be seeing Labor’s 24 new members sworn in and ensuring they all participate fully towards the government’s long term goals.
“I’m feeling very energised about parliament coming back and seeing the outcome of the election in real form,” he said.
“What that represents … is it gives the confidence that we were correct last term to prioritise people’s living standards and cost of living, dealing with those pressures, and that we’re correct to continue to prioritise that.
“You need to deliver for people what they need in order to then have the legitimacy to push forward on longer term changes.”
The prime minister was feeling buoyant as he flew back from a successful six-day tour of China, where he balanced tensions over Chinese military build-up and a mutual desire to strengthen economic ties.
Amid coalition criticism that he had failed to deliver enough tangible outcomes, Albanese hit back that they didn’t understand how patiently nurturing the relationship would pay dividends in the long-term.
Opposition defence spokesman Angus Taylor’s clumsy comments that Australia should be “prepared to act” alongside the US in conflict with China over Taiwan broke with the bipartisan “One China” policy in support of the status quo across the Taiwan Strait, Albanese said.
His eye is on a Labor dynasty to carve out a positive future for Australia in a challenging region.
“One of the things we’re very determined to do is to have long-term Labor government in Australia so that we can implement the long-term changes that Australia needs.
“The world is changing fast and you can either shape that change or it will shape you.”
—AAP
Support for Labor has crept up as support for the Coalition has slipped, according to the first Newspoll since the election.