A comprehensive overview of the Albanese government's policy achievements across the economy, healthcare, housing, climate, education, and social reform since 2022.
When Labor took office in May 2022, Australia faced compounding challenges: inflation at 6.1%, five consecutive quarters of falling real wages, a collapsing Medicare system, a housing crisis a decade in the making, and climate policy paralysis. Three years later, the government has delivered measurable progress across every major policy area through targeted investment, structural reform, and patient implementation.
Economic Management and Fiscal Responsibility
The government transformed Australia's fiscal position by delivering consecutive budget surpluses of $22.1 billion (2022-23) and $15.8 billion (2023-24), the first back-to-back surpluses in nearly two decades and the largest on record. The 2024-25 deficit came in at just $10 billion, $18 billion better than forecast. Over three years, the fiscal position improved by $209 billion compared to what was inherited, with gross debt $188 billion lower than projected, avoiding over $60 billion in interest costs through to 2032-33. Standard & Poor's reaffirmed Australia's AAA credit rating in September 2025, whilst the nation's budget balance ranking jumped from 14th to 3rd among G20 countries.
Real wages have grown for eight consecutive quarters as of November 2025, the longest run in almost a decade, following five quarters of decline under the previous government. The Wage Price Index grew 3.4% annually to September 2025, with minimum wage earners now taking home over $175 per week more than in May 2022. The economy created 1.2 million jobs since 2022, the strongest employment growth of any major advanced economy, with unemployment sitting at 4.3% in November 2025.
Inflation fell to 2.4% by December 2024, firmly within the RBA's 2-3% target band, down from the 6.1% inherited from the Coalition. Underlying inflation reached 3.2%, its lowest level in three years. Australia's inflation rate now sits below major advanced economies including the United States, United Kingdom and Germany.
The Future Made in Australia plan represents $22.7 billion over ten years to position Australia as a renewable energy superpower, with legislation passing Parliament in November 2024. The package has already catalysed private sector investments that could scale beyond $100 billion. The $15 billion National Reconstruction Fund became operational in November 2023, announcing its first $40 million investment as part of a broader $100 million co-investment in Queensland manufacturing. The government released the National AI Plan in December 2025, backed by $29.9 million to establish an AI Safety Institute in early 2026.
Healthcare: Making Medicine Affordable and Accessible
Labor reversed the collapse in bulk billing by tripling incentives for vulnerable Australians in November 2023, generating 6 million additional bulk-billed GP visits over the following 14 months. National bulk billing rates rose from a low of 75% in October 2023 to 77.5% by December 2024, with around 90% of children's GP visits now bulk billed.
The government created an entirely new tier of healthcare through 87 Medicare Urgent Care Clinics providing fully bulk-billed treatment seven days a week. These clinics delivered one million free visits by December 2024, with nearly half of patients saying they would otherwise have attended emergency departments. An additional 50 clinics will open in 2025-26, bringing 80% of Australians within a 20-minute drive of urgent care.
In aged care, Labor funded a 15% pay rise for over 250,000 workers from July 2023 at a cost of $11.3 billion, followed by an additional $3.8 billion for further increases from January 2025. This represents the largest aged care wage increase in history and delivered an additional 3.6 million minutes of care daily in residential facilities. The government expanded access to home care, fast-tracking 20,000 Home Care Packages before launching the new Support at Home program on 1 November 2025, with 83,000 additional packages planned for 2025-26.
Mental health care received major reform through a $588.5 million digital early intervention service providing free cognitive behavioural therapy without diagnosis or referral from January 2026, expansion of Medicare Mental Health Centres to 61 locations by mid-2026, and $109.1 million to train 500 additional psychologists focused on regional and rural areas. The government's world-first anti-vaping legislation seized over 7 million vaping products since July 2024.
Additional reforms include $1.7 billion more for public hospitals in 2025-26 (a 12% increase to a record $33.91 billion), $213.8 million to combat NDIS fraud (preventing over $400 million being diverted from genuine participants), and training a record 1,750 new GPs in 2025 with one-third specialising in rural medicine.
Housing: A Comprehensive Response to the Crisis
Labor has invested over $32 billion across multiple programmes to address Australia's housing crisis, recognising that no single solution exists. The $10 billion Housing Australia Future Fund, established on 1 November 2023, represents the single biggest investment in public housing in Australian history, targeting 55,000 social and affordable homes by mid-2029. To date, over 5,000 homes have been completed with 25,000 more in planning and construction, supporting around 29,000 jobs annually.
For first home buyers, Labor helped over 93,000 Australians into home ownership since 2022 through the expanded Home Guarantee Scheme. From October 2025, the scheme removed all place limits and income caps, with property price caps substantially increased: Sydney to $1.5 million, Melbourne to $950,000, Brisbane to $1 million. The scheme allows first home buyers to purchase with deposits as low as 5%, and single parents with just 2%.
Help to Buy launched as a $6.3 billion shared equity scheme where the government contributes up to 40% for new homes and 30% for existing homes, helping buyers save approximately $900 to $1,200 per month on mortgage repayments. With just a 2% deposit required, 40,000 households will be assisted over four years.
The National Housing Accord brings together all levels of government, institutional investors, and the construction sector with a target of 1.2 million new homes over five years from 2024. Labor committed $350 million for 10,000 affordable homes, with states and territories matching this for another 10,000. The $3 billion New Home Bonus provides performance-based incentives, paying states $15,000 for each new home built above their targets.
Planning reforms through the National Planning Reform Blueprint accelerated development pathways for social and affordable housing. A strike team is fast-tracking assessment of over 26,000 homes awaiting EPBC Act approval, with artificial intelligence being piloted to simplify the process. The $1.5 billion Housing Support Program has funded 80 planning capability projects and provides essential infrastructure to unlock new developments.
Workforce development has been critical, with the Key Apprenticeship Program supporting 4,675 housing construction apprentices in its first three months, providing up to $10,000 in financial support per apprentice. Labor committed $90.6 million for 20,000 additional Fee-Free TAFE places over two years from January 2025, alongside streamlined skills assessments for potential migrants in construction trades.
For renters, Labor increased Commonwealth Rent Assistance by 15%, the largest increase in 30 years, supporting nearly one million households. The government committed $1 billion for crisis and transitional accommodation supporting women and children experiencing domestic violence and youth experiencing homelessness, representing nearly 20 times more funding than the previous Coalition government provided in a decade. Build-to-Rent legislation passed to support construction of 80,000 new rental homes with stable five-year tenancies.
Workplace Rights: Closing Loopholes and Raising Wages
Labor passed three major tranches of workplace reform: the Secure Jobs, Better Pay Act 2022, and the Closing Loopholes Acts of 2023 and 2024. These reforms have fundamentally shifted the balance of workplace rights, with wages now growing at 4% annually (the highest in 15 years), 2.62 million employees covered by enterprise agreements (the highest since 2014), and average pay rises in new agreements reaching 4.8% in December 2024.
The government made deliberate wage theft a criminal offence for the first time in Australian history from 1 January 2025. Employers who intentionally underpay workers face up to 10 years imprisonment, with fines up to $7.85 million for companies or three times the underpayment amount, whichever is greater. This addresses the Fair Work Ombudsman's estimate of between $850 million to $1.55 billion in stolen wages annually.
Labor closed the labour hire loophole by ensuring workers employed through labour hire companies receive the same pay as permanent employees doing the same job at the same workplace. NSW coal miners at Boggabri Coal Operations received increases between $15,600 and $35,000, Queensland meat processing workers secured increases up to 42%, Kmart warehouse workers gained up to $11.56 per hour, and 2,450 Qantas long-haul cabin crew were brought into direct employment.
The right to disconnect commenced on 26 August 2024, giving workers the legal right to refuse unreasonable contact outside working hours. Analysis from the Centre for Future Work shows unpaid overtime has fallen from 5.4 to 3.6 hours per week, a 33% reduction representing a decrease from 3.3 billion to 2.2 billion hours of unpaid work across Australia.
The government introduced world-leading protections for gig economy workers, with the Fair Work Commission empowered to set minimum standards for digital platform workers, protecting them from unfair deactivation and ensuring decent pay and conditions. Four applications under these changes have already been submitted.
Labor implemented all 55 recommendations of the Respect@Work report, creating a positive duty for employers to prevent sexual harassment and strengthening the Sex Discrimination Act 1984. The Australian Human Rights Commission gained new compliance and enforcement powers backed by $5.8 million in funding.
From 1 July 2026, employers must pay superannuation within seven business days of payday, replacing the current quarterly system. This reform addresses the $6.2 billion in super that went unpaid in 2022-23, affecting one in four workers. The earlier contributions will deliver an average 25-year-old worker the equivalent of an extra $6,000 in today's dollars by retirement.
Additional reforms include legislating 10 days paid family and domestic violence leave, expanding Paid Parental Leave from 20 weeks to 26 weeks by 2026 with 12% superannuation contributions from July 2025, protecting employer-funded paid parental leave when a child is stillborn or dies, and prohibiting pay secrecy clauses.
Climate and Environment: From Laggard to Leader
Labor's first major act was legislating the Climate Change Bill 2022 in September 2022, committing Australia to a 43% emissions reduction from 2005 levels by 2030 and net zero by 2050. Recent analysis shows Australia is on track to achieve these targets, with projections indicating a 42.6% reduction by 2030.
The government has approved 77 renewable energy projects with capacity to power over 10 million homes, representing the most renewable energy projects approved by any Australian government in history. The renewable energy network now supplies 46% of the national grid's demand, with an additional 15 gigawatts added under the current government.
In November 2024, Australia became the first country to protect more than half its ocean territory, reaching 52% protection after quadrupling the size of the Heard and McDonald Islands Marine Park, adding 310,000 square kilometres of protected ocean (an area larger than Italy).
Labor passed the Environment Protection Reform Bill through Parliament on 28 November 2025, marking the most significant changes to Australia's environmental laws in over 25 years. For the first time, Australia will have a National Environmental Protection Agency commencing operations on 1 July 2026, with National Environmental Standards providing clear guidelines to protect the environment whilst streamlining assessment pathways to reduce timeframes for proponents.
The government invested $262 million to restore Australia's national parks, creating 110 new jobs and addressing critical infrastructure needs. The $76 million Saving Koalas Fund has already restored 5,000 hectares of koala habitat and planted a quarter of a million trees, whilst $19 million in wildlife hospitals transformed healthcare for injured and sick koalas.
Labor reformed the Petroleum Resource Rent Tax, implementing a cap limiting deductions to 90% of assessable income. The reforms will increase tax receipts by $2.4 billion over the forward estimates, ensuring Australians receive a fairer return from their natural resources.
The government expanded the Hydrogen Headstart programme to $4 billion and introduced a $6.7 billion Hydrogen Production Tax Incentive over 10 years. The Driving the Nation Fund was doubled to $500 million to establish 117 EV charging stations approximately every 150 kilometres on highways. The New Vehicle Efficiency Standard commenced 1 January 2025, aiming to reduce new passenger vehicle emissions by more than 60% by 2030 and save motorists $95 billion in fuel by 2050.
The Capacity Investment Scheme delivered 19 projects with 6.4 gigawatts capacity in its first major round, enough to power three million homes. The $1 billion Solar Sunshot programme aims to boost domestic solar manufacturing, with plans to transform the former Liddell coal-fired power station into a solar manufacturing hub, creating hundreds of jobs in coal communities transitioning to renewable energy.
The reformed Safeguard Mechanism requires Australia's 219 biggest polluters to reduce their emissions, cutting 200 million tonnes of carbon pollution by 2030 through mandatory yearly declining emissions limits. The Water Amendment (Restoring Our Rivers) Act 2023 delivers comprehensive reforms to protect the Murray-Darling Basin, with the government announcing recovery of 286 gigalitres towards the 450 gigalitre environmental water target by March 2025, compared to just 2 gigalitres delivered in the previous decade.
Education: From Early Childhood to Higher Education
In March 2025, Queensland became the final state to sign the Better and Fairer Schools Agreement, completing a historic achievement that had eluded governments for over a decade. Every public school in Australia is now on a path to full Gonski funding. The Commonwealth removed the 20% funding ceiling and transformed it into a funding floor, lifting the Commonwealth share to 25% (and 40% for the Northern Territory). This $16.5 billion investment over 10 years means 2.6 million students in public schools will finally receive the resources recommended in 2012.
The government delivered unprecedented relief for university students and graduates by fixing HELP debt indexation and cutting all student debts by 20%, wiping close to $20 billion in debt for over 3 million Australians. The indexation fix, which caps rates to the lower of CPI or wage growth and was backdated to 2023, addressed the spike that saw student debts growing faster than people's capacity to repay them. The 20% debt cut, implemented in July 2025, meant someone with the average debt of $27,600 saw $5,520 wiped from their loan.
The $3.6 billion investment delivering a 15% wage increase for early childhood educators is tied to strict fee caps, ensuring the predominantly female workforce receives fair pay without costs being passed to families. A typical educator now receives an additional $155 per week, whilst families continue benefiting from the Cheaper Child Care policy that increased subsidies and reduced average out-of-pocket costs by over 13%. The early childhood workforce has grown by over 30,000 workers since 2022.
Fee-Free TAFE exceeded all expectations with 568,400 enrolments by September 2024. The programme targets skills shortages in priority areas like care sectors, construction, and technology. Women took six in ten places, whilst one in three went to regional and remote Australians. The government has now legislated to make Fee-Free TAFE permanent, funding 100,000 places annually from 2027 onwards.
The Universities Accord implementation is addressing long-standing equity issues. The Commonwealth Prac Payment of $319.50 per week supports approximately 68,000 students annually who must undertake mandatory unpaid practicums in teaching, nursing, midwifery, and social work. The government uncapped Commonwealth Supported Places for Indigenous medical students, ensuring every Indigenous student who meets entry requirements receives a place.
The National Student Ombudsman, established with $19.4 million over two years, gives students an independent avenue to address complaints when universities fail them, with powers to investigate and compel universities to participate. The National Teacher Workforce Action Plan has driven teacher numbers up 2.8% to 320,377 full-time equivalent staff in 2024, whilst the student-to-teacher ratio fell to 12.9 students per teacher, the lowest since 2006.
Gender Equality: Structural Change Across Multiple Fronts
The government's approach to ending violence against women centres on the National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children 2022-2032, backed by over $3.4 billion in funding. The permanent Leaving Violence Programme provides up to $5,000 in support for victim-survivors, with $925.2 million invested over five years. The programme has already helped more than 45,000 Australians escape violence since 2021.
The government addressed the housing crisis facing women fleeing violence through multiple channels. The $10 billion Housing Australia Future Fund designates 4,000 homes specifically for women and children impacted by family violence, whilst the National Agreement on Social Housing and Homelessness doubles dedicated funding for homelessness services to $400 million annually.
The $573.3 million women's health package addresses decades of underfunding. For the first time in over 30 years, new oral contraceptive pills have been added to the PBS, saving approximately 50,000 women up to $190 annually. The first new menopausal hormone therapies in over 20 years are now PBS-listed, saving around 150,000 women up to $577 annually with a concession card.
The government has delivered historic progress in closing the gender pay gap, which has fallen from 14.1% in May 2022 to 11.5%, the lowest on record. Women's average weekly earnings have increased by $173.80 since May 2022. Key reforms include banning pay secrecy clauses, establishing gender equality as an objective of the Fair Work Act, and introducing mandatory gender pay gap reporting for employers with 100 or more workers.
The government's legislation to pay superannuation on Paid Parental Leave from July 2025 addresses a critical source of retirement inequality. The $1.1 billion investment over four years means eligible parents will receive a 12% superannuation contribution on their Paid Parental Leave payments, benefiting around 180,000 families annually and directly targeting the retirement savings gap where women currently retire with 25% less superannuation than men.
Labor formed the first majority-woman federal ministry in Australian history, whilst women's representation on Australian Government boards has reached an unprecedented 54%, up from 33.4% in 2009. The $60.6 million Building Women's Careers Programme funds partnerships to remove barriers for women in construction, clean energy, advanced manufacturing, and digital technology.
Cost of Living: Targeted Relief Across Multiple Pressure Points
Supermarket competition received unprecedented reform through mandatory regulation from April 2025. The Food and Grocery Code now carries penalties up to $10 million, three times the benefit gained, or 10% of annual turnover for breaches. From July 2026, major retailers will be banned from charging excessive prices compared to supply costs plus reasonable margins. The ACCC received over $30 million in additional funding to enforce these protections.
Energy bill relief delivered $300 annually to households through automatic $75 quarterly credits from July 2024, with small businesses receiving $325. The Solar Sharer scheme, launching July 2026 in NSW, South-East Queensland and South Australia, provides three hours of free electricity daily during peak solar generation.
Medicine costs received the largest reduction in PBS history. The maximum script price dropped from $42.50 to $30 in January 2023, with 60-day prescriptions introduced September 2023 enabling double quantities for the same price. These reforms delivered $1.1 billion in total savings, with 66 million prescriptions issued free after patients reached the lower Safety Net threshold.
The Home Guarantee Scheme removed all place limits and income caps from October 2025, with property price caps substantially increased. The 5% deposit requirement with government guarantees enables buyers to avoid Lenders Mortgage Insurance, with over 180,000 buyers assisted since 2022. Commonwealth Rent Assistance increased 45% since May 2022 through consecutive rises, benefiting nearly one million households.
Tax reform delivered cuts from July 2024, with the 19% rate dropping to 16% for incomes between $18,200 and $45,000, and the 32.5% rate reducing to 30% for incomes to $135,000. A person earning $40,000 receives $654 annually, whilst someone on $75,000 gets $1,554. All 6.5 million women taxpayers received cuts averaging $1,650.
Childcare subsidies increased in July 2023, setting maximum subsidy to 90% for families earning $80,000 or less. The Three Day Guarantee, legislated for January 2026, removes the activity test for the first three days of care, guaranteeing 72 hours of subsidised care per fortnight regardless of work requirements, benefiting approximately 66,700 families initially.
Integrity: Delivering Long-Promised Reform
The government's flagship achievement was establishing the National Anti-Corruption Commission, which began operations on 1 July 2023. As of August 2025, the commission is conducting 37 preliminary investigations and 37 corruption investigations, with 10 convictions secured since commencement.
In October 2024, the government replaced the Administrative Appeals Tribunal with the Administrative Review Tribunal following evidence the AAT had become heavily politicised. All former AAT members were required to reapply under the new merit-based process, with the new ART receiving additional funding of $206.5 million over four years to address backlogs.
Following the PwC tax leaks scandal, the government launched comprehensive reforms to tax integrity. Key measures included strengthening the Tax Practitioners Board's sanctions regime, providing $30 million in additional funding for compliance activities, and increasing maximum fines for tax exploitation from $7.8 million to $780 million.
Electoral reform legislation passed in November 2024 represents the most significant changes to political donations and campaign finance in over 40 years. The reforms introduce real-time disclosure of political donations, reduce the disclosure threshold from $16,900 to $1,000, establish a $20,000 annual cap on donations from any single donor, and impose spending caps of $90 million for parties and $800,000 per electorate.
Foreign Policy: Balancing Competing Priorities
The government restored dialogue with Beijing whilst deepening US security cooperation, demonstrating these objectives need not conflict. Relations with China stabilised through the first prime ministerial meeting with President Xi since 2016 at the November 2022 G20 summit. Trade restrictions lifted progressively across barley, timber, coal, and wine, with wine exports to China recovering from $14 million in 2023 to $877 million in 2024, contributing to record bilateral trade of $312 billion.
The US alliance advanced through the AUKUS submarine pathway, with Congressional authorisation in December 2023 for three to five Virginia-class submarines from the early 2030s. Domestic missile manufacturing commenced in December 2025 at Port Wakefield, South Australia, producing Guided Multiple Launch Rocket Systems with capacity for 4,000 rounds annually from 2029.
Managing the Trump administration's return required strategic patience. After ten months without a bilateral meeting, the October 2025 White House visit secured an $8.5 billion critical minerals framework plus Trump's public commitment that AUKUS would proceed "full steam ahead".
Pacific engagement received record $2 billion annual development assistance, addressing regional priorities through the Pacific Engagement Visa (3,000 annual places), expanded Pacific Australia Labour Mobility scheme, and a $1.4 billion security package. Defence funding increased by $50.3 billion over the decade, with annual budgets growing from $53 billion to an estimated $100 billion by 2033-34, reaching over 2.3% of GDP.