It may feel like the election campaign started some time ago but Prime Minister Anthony Albanese officially called it this morning and the major parties gave their first speeches today.
Each party will be working as hard as it can to win votes and false and exaggerated claims may appear.
Let's go through the accuracy of five big claims made on Friday by Albanese as well as Opposition leader Peter Dutton and Greens leader Adam Bandt.
Albanese: 'Only Labor is acting on the cost-of-living ... Only a vote for Labor is a vote for stronger Medicare'
Labor has made a number of cost-of-living promises including income tax cuts, expanding the Help to Buy scheme for first homebuyers, and capping the cost of medications on the PBS.
But the Liberal Party would strongly disagree that Labor is the only one acting on this issue. It has promised to lower energy bills and cut Australia's fuel excise to lower petrol prices.
It has also agreed to match the $8.5 billion Labor is planning to inject into Medicare to expand the bulk billing incentive, and to provide further incentive payments for clinics to bulk bill.
Albanese: 'The Liberals are promising to increase income tax for all 14 million Australian taxpayers and because Peter Dutton needs to find $600 billion to pay for nuclear reactors that will provide 4 per cent of Australia's energy needs some time in the 2040s, that money has to come from somewhere'
The Coalition has said it won't support Albanese's tax cuts, due to kick in next year and would repeal tax cut legislation, meaning technically an incerase in taxes.
On nuclear, the figure Albanese appears to be quoting comes from the Smart Energy Council. It estimates the cost of building seven nuclear reactors proposed by the Coalition would be between $116-$600 billion, and they would provide 3.7 per cent of Australia’s energy mix in 2050.
The Liberal Party released its own costings from Frontier Economics suggesting its nuclear policy would cost $331 billion, which it says is $263 billion less than Labor's renewable transition costs.
The costings of Dutton's nuclear plan are somewhat in dispute. The CSIRO and the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) have both said nuclear is twice as expensive as renewables.
Dutton: Australians are now paying on average 18 per cent more for rent ... and over 30 per cent more for power and gas
The Opposition leader is sort of on the money here but not quite.
CoreLogic data confirms that since the Albanese government came into power in May 2022, rents nationally have risen about 18 per cent.
Electricity prices actually fell 9.9 per cent in the December 2024 quarter, and 25.2 per cent in the 12 months to January 2025, but some households faced bill spikes of up to 40 per cent before this, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
Rebates from the Commonwealth and state governments reduced electricity costs in September and December quarters, the ABS said.
It added: "Excluding the rebates, electricity prices would have risen by 0.2 per cent in the December 2024 quarter."
Dutton: [Australians] are losing hope for their future — 29,000 small businesses have gone broke over the course of the Albanese government's first term
Data from Australia's Security and Investments Commission (ASIC) shows around 28,900 "companies entered external administration or had a controller appointed" since the Albanese government took power.
But ASIC's figures don't make the distinction that these are all "small businesses".
A small business is defined by the ABS as having either fewer than 20 employees or an aggregated annual turnover of less than $10 million.
Bandt: 'Minority government is coming. And with the major parties offering about as attractive as a dead fish, you can see why'
It's a possibility no-one will win the federal election outright and Australia will have a minority government.
Some experts told SBS News that polling indicates a minority government is looking pretty likely this time around.
But Bandt is calling this result before anyone's voted.
As for the dead fish reference, he's likely referring to his colleague Sarah Hanson-Young's Senate stunt, where she held up a dead salmon in protest against Labor's salmon-farming legislation.
Correction: A previous version of this article said the Liberal Party's nuclear policy had been costed at $331 million. The correct figure is $331 billion.
