Who won the 2025 Australian federal election? What happened to Peter Dutton?

Last night was a big one in Australian news, with the federal election being called, so here’s a quick recap of what happened.

Let’s get up to speed on the results.

Who won the election?

The Labor Party.

While counting is still underway, Labor has won enough seats to rule as a majority government.

Who is the prime minister?

Anthony Albanese.

It will be his second term as Australia’s prime minister.

He was first elected back in 2022 when Labor defeated former prime minister Scott Morrison’s Coalition government.

Mr Albanese was first elected as a member of parliament when he won the seat of Grayndler in 1996. It’s a seat he’s now held for nearly 30 years.

You can watch his 2025 federal election victory speech in full here.

Did Peter Dutton lose his seat?

Yes.

Peter Dutton is the biggest name to lose his seat — a seat he’d held since 2001.

It is a big deal because Mr Dutton was the opposition leader.

As leader of the Liberal Party, Mr Dutton would have become Australia’s prime minister if the Coalition won the election.

Instead, he lost the seat of Dickson.

Here’s where you can watch his concession speech — which Labor’s Jim Chalmers called “exceptionally gracious” and “classy” — in full.

Dickson is an electorate just north of Brisbane.

Who won Dickson?

Labor candidate Ali France.

This was the third time Ms France ran for the seat of Dickson.

Here’s the breakdown of the results for the Dickson electorate:

What happens when a politician loses their seat?

It means they are no longer a member of parliament, so they effectively lose that job.

“Upon losing their seat, departing members move out of their office at Parliament House and return to everyday life,” the Parliamentary Education Office website says.

“Some departing members choose to return to jobs they held before being elected to parliament, while others may start a new career.

“Examples of new career paths of former members and senators include chancellor and vice-chancellor of universities, chairperson of a non-profit organisation and working in private business.”

Mr Dutton didn’t say what he would be doing next, during his concession speech last night.

Losing a seat at an election doesn’t prevent a politician from running again next time — but they will need their party’s approval to rejoin their old team.

Who will be the next Liberal leader?

We don’t know yet.

Sussan Ley, who was Mr Dutton’s deputy, has retained her seat.

It would be an historic moment if she were to become the leader because the Liberal Party of Australia has never had a female leader before.

Here are a few other high-ranking members of the party who retained their seats:

• Angus Taylor: Shadow treasurer
• Andrew Hastie: Shadow defence minister
• Dan Tehan: Shadow immigration minister

David Littleproud remains the leader of the National Party of Australia. In fact, his seat of Maranoa was the first win to be confirmed.

Which seats are still in doubt?

You can see a list of seats in doubt here. Once the page opens, just scroll down below the map.

The ABC has a comprehensive results page where you can see every individual electorate.

Click here to go to the ABC’s live election results page.

But, if you’re in a hurry, you can see the results at a glance in the widget below:

When was the election result called?

Nearly two and a half hours after polls closed on the east coast.

Here’s what time that was depending on where you were:

• ACT, New South Wales, Queensland, Tasmania, Victoria: 8:27pm AEST
• Northern Territory and South Australia: 7:57pm ACST
• Western Australia: 6:27pm AWST

That’s about half an hour earlier than at the last federal election, and an hour later than at the 2019 federal election.