Several critical issues will hang in the balance when Australians vote for federal parliamentarians on 3 May 2025.
The following are among those that are important in creating a peaceful, nuclear-free and sustainable future for all. We encourage voters to select one or two topics about which you care deeply and question election candidates about them.
Speaking out against genocide
All people share a common humanity and the right to healthcare. The dehumanising of Palestinians by Israel and the deliberate destruction of their healthcare and all other necessities is bringing immeasurable suffering and is weakening these universally held protections. Acts of terror, such as those committed by Hamas in October 2023, do not justify a grossly disproportionate escalation of violence.
Israel’s genocidal actions should be explicitly opposed, and far more decisive action from Australia to this end implemented. All war-related violence against civilians, anywhere, must be condemned.
Preventing war: Stopping AUKUS
The AUKUS agreement between Australia, the UK and the US is provocative and destabilising, prepares Australia for involvement in a war between the US and China that would be catastrophic, and raises even further the profile of facilities in Australia as military targets, including nuclear targets.
AUKUS ties Australia even more tightly than previously to the wars and policies of the US, where President Trump is rapidly displaying many features of fascist leadership.
Extricating Australia from further dangerous US wars, and thus from AUKUS, is imperative.
Achieving rapid climate action and a nuclear-free future
Climate change, along with the risk of nuclear war, is one of the two existential threats to the survival of humanity as we know it. Urgent and effective climate action – including by Australia – is critically needed for human health and avoiding increasing global tensions and armed conflicts.
The LNP Coalition’s plan for civilian nuclear power for Australia would worsen climate change by prolonging the use of coal and gas for decades. It is too slow, expensive and dangerous to be even part of the climate solutions we need. It is a disingenuous attempt to derail the transition to renewable energy.
Nuclear power for Australia must be rejected and renewable energies ramped up.
Reducing the risk of nuclear war
The risk of the use of nuclear weapons is now higher than it has ever been. Signing the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) would be by far the best way for Australia to help reduce this risk. In 2018, Labor committed to signing the Treaty when in government, but they have not yet done so.
Commitments from candidates and parties in support of Australia signing the TPNW must grow.
Prioritising the security of having a home, food and healthcare
Easing the cost-of-living crisis is a matter of priorities. Countless Australians lack a home, adequate food, healthcare and the capacity to get by each week, while priority is given to a rapidly growing military budget – all in the name of “security”. The AUKUS nuclear-powered submarines alone carry an eye-watering financial cost.
The recent budget announcement of more aid for the Pacific and South-East Asia is welcome, but overseas aid is still at its lowest level ever as a percentage of the federal budget (0.65%). The Australian Council for International Development is calling for overseas aid to be restored to 1% of the budget.
Parties’ and candidates’ references to “security” must be questioned: security for whom and against what?
Reining in militarism and protecting our democracy
As military budgets rise, so too does the influence of those who profit – the weapons makers. They are involved in educational programs in schools and universities, and in war commemoration. They are a significant part of the problem of “state capture” whereby, according to one report, “no matter which major party forms government in Australia, powerful and well-connected industries always seem to win”.
In addition, democratic freedoms such as academic freedoms and the right to dissent are under attack. Australian citizens and even our parliamentarians are still shut out of decisions on whether and when our country goes to war, despite this practice being fraught with risk.
The need to exclude vested interests from political decision-making is increasingly urgent, as are commitments to far greater transparency, accountability and protection of our democratic freedoms.
Investing in peace
In a climate-ravaged, nuclear armed, increasingly polarised world, the need to defuse tensions and avoid further armed conflicts is critical for the future of all of us. And yet Australia spends a tiny fraction of the cost of our war preparations on very cost-effective measures to promote peace, such as diplomacy to build strong relationships with other nations.
As the ongoing war between Israel and Palestine demonstrates, conflicts and injustices elsewhere can cause severe social tensions in Australia. As another example, tensions with China have badly affected Chinese Australians, to the detriment of our whole society.
Far greater investment in diplomacy is needed to protect not only nations and communities abroad but also social cohesion here in Australia.