Australian Federal election results 2025 recap May 6: Liberal Tim Wilson takes Goldstein lead from Zoe Daniel

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Teal MP Zoe Daniel may be out of a job as Liberal candidate Tim Wilson took a two-party-preferred lead in the inner-city Melbourne seat of Goldstein.

Ms Daniel was elected in 2022, defeating Mr Wilson, who was at the time the incumbent MP for the seat.

But it appears that Mr Wilson may have returned the favour, taking the lead on a two-party-preferred basis three days into counting.

The result would mean all hope is not lost for the Liberals’ inner-city appeal, despite going backwards in the urban vote in many states.

Adam Bandt is in serious danger of being swept up in Labor’s landslide federal election win, with his seat of Melbourne still too close to call.

The Greens leader was the first candidate from his party to be elected to the lower house and has held the electorate since 2010.

Despite saying he was confident of retaining his seat, Mr Bandt fell behind his Labor challenger in the vote count on Tuesday.

So who is Sarah Witty, the Labor candidate who could leave the Greens leaderless?

She is a foster carer, housing advocate and the chief executive of the Nappy Collective – a charity that supplies nappies to families in crisis.

According to the Labor candidate, she has “raised over $110m for social and affordable housing” through her work at Homes for Homes.

Read the full story here.

Deputy Nationals leader Perin Davey, who was poised to lose her Senate seat to Labor this morning, has taken aim at her Liberal colleagues.

Senator Davey, who has held her seat since 2019, put her probable loss down to running on a joint Senate ticket with the Liberals.

“It’s not based on a loss in the National Party vote,” she told the ABC.

“My loss will be based entirely on people not wanting to vote for the Liberals because of our agreement with the Liberals that on this cycle the Nationals position falls to the third spot on the Senate ticket, which is the most at-risk spot.”

Read the full story here.

Ryan Stokes, chief executive of industrial supplier SGH, said he was confident on the outlook for China, and said the country would be able to navigate trade issues.

Speaking on the sidelines of a Macquarie Bank investor conference, Mr Stokes said he expected Chinese stimulus to help prop up demand for Australian minerals.

“We think that’s going to be strong for iron ore, strong for coal, strong for gas, strong for those primary resources, critical minerals, (and) gold,” he said.

SGH is heavily leveraged to mine production via its Westrac machinery arm and Coates hire firm.

The company is also positioned for any upswing in residential housing and infrastrture investment and Mr Stokes was confident SGH would enjoy the benefits of Labor’s spending packages. He also expected to see a significant uptick in defence related projects.

“We’ve looked at that infrastructure construction outlook as a key part of the economy long term,” he said.

“I think what we’re going to see is a shift in focus around more defence and self sufficiency in defence.

“And I think overall, how we can actually deal with bigger cities, because this is going to be an issue. Perth is the fastest growing city at the moment, and you’re going to find most of the concern around growth will come down to how people feel about the traffic and the like.”

Mr Stokes said that Labor should be using its expanded mandate to drive a stronger reform agenda, particulary with wage growth likely to hit 3 per cent per annum according to Treasury forecasts.

“We don’t have enough focus around how we drive productivity,” he said.

“We’ve got to look at how we’re getting more productive, how we adopt the right technologies that ultimately can drive better growth through the economy, which the private sector is going to have to do.”

He also called on the government to avoid meddling in the gas market.

“This is a supply issue. Putting policies that put uncertainty on investment in supply is counterproductive,” he said.

“The oil and gas sector is a high risk investment. So if you want to encourage that, policy certainty, encouragement around freeing up gas, and getting that gas resource to maket is a key factor, and we need to look at that in a more holistic solution.”

Labor’s frontbench big hitters will remain in their positions as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese prepares his Government for a second term, the Foreign Minister has confirmed.

Asked on breakfast television if she would stay in the foreign affairs portfolio, she said, “I want to and the Prime Minister’s indicated that me and Richard (Marles), Don Farrell, Katy (Gallagher) and Jim (Chalmers) will stay where we are.”

Ms Wong confirmed she would stay for the full term, amid earlier speculation the long-term Senator, who has been in in the upper house since 2001, may retire.

“Yes, I will, and in fact, you know, the size of this victory and the prospect of a third term labor government, it looks pretty good,” she said.

Pressed on whether the Prime Minister would also stay a full term in the job, she queried the question.

“I think that’s a funny thing to ask.”

Counting is ongoing in the Greens leader’s seat, but here’s where it stands right now:

Newswire reports that the Foreign Minister unleashed on Greens leader Adam Bandt on a breakfast television appearance.

She said the election results showed the Australian public “rejected the politics of conflict and … grievance”.

“Unfortunately, Adam Bandt, you know, in some ways is quite like Peter Dutton,” she said.

“It’s the same conflict. It’s the same … frankly, sometimes quite aggressive and the same politics of protest and grievance.

“I think Australians have comprehensively rejected that.”

Here’s the full story.

The Coalition has lost “middle Australia,” Foreign Minister Penny Wong has said.

“On current numbers, the Coalition are down to seven out of 88 seats in metropolitan areas. Know what that says? That says that in the cities and suburbs, the coalition does not represent middle Australia,” she told ABC Radio National Breakfast.

“It doesn’t represent the hopes, aspirations and struggles of people, of Australians and their families living in our cities and suburbs. That really was a profound message from the electorate.”

Asked how Labor would guard against hubris with such an emphatic majority, she said the party would never take Australians for granted.

“I think when the prime minister talks about humility, about recognising the weight of responsibility that that is what we have, the sense we have across our caucus.”

Nationals Senator Bridget McKenzie has dismissed the suggestion that the Coalition’s nuclear policy is dead and buried after the party’s election loss.

“I think we’ve got to solve the long-term energy problem. I’ve been a strong supporter of nuclear being part of our energy mix,” she said.

“Going forward, for a long time, by 2027, we’re going to have nuclear subs docking in Perth, along with up to 9000 Americans living in and amongst us. So we do need to address the issue, not just to 2050 but to stay an industrialised nation,” she said.

The Senator would not be drawn on speculation about a future Coalition frontbench, but she expected Nationals leader David Littleproud to be re-elected as Nationals leader.

“I haven’t heard of any other contenders, but as usual in the Nationals party, we’re hyper democratic, and anything can happen.”