Promises, promises in election 2025: What major parties are offering older Australians

This article is written by YourLifeChoices Founder Kaye Fallick

With less than a fortnight to go, we’ve now reached the ‘pointy end’ of the 2025 Federal Election campaign. That may be a relief for those sick of advertising and wild statements. But it’s instructive to take a pause and look at what the major parties are promising that could be of interest to older Australians.

The following summary starts with the incumbent government, the Australian Labor Party, followed by the main opposition party, the Liberal-National Party Coalition, and then the Australian Greens.

I’ve also offered a brief comment on these policies and how they may appeal to retirees.

AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY (ALP)

Cost of living pressures: 

A second-round rebate on household and small business power bills of $150, to be delivered in two instalments, from July 2025.

Housing: Labor will build 100,000 homes whose sale is restricted to first home buyers.

All first home buyers will be able to access five per cent mortgage deposits, which include an exemption from Lenders Mortgage Insurance.

An expansion of the  Help-to-Buy scheme legislated last year. This means that the Federal Government covers part of the cost of a home for eligible first home buyers, with an equity stake that can be bought out later on.

Health and medicines: 

Another $8.5 billion invested into Medicare with the goal of nine out of 10 GP visits to be bulk-billed by 2030. 

An expansion of the urgent care clinic network resulting in 50 new centres by mid-2026.

Mental health initiatives seem to concentrate on services for youth mental health. 

A decrease in the price of PBS-listed medicines from $31.60 to $25.

Aged Care: 

A new Aged Care Act will come into force on July 1 with a much greater emphasis on the rights of older people to get the care that suits their needs. This policy received bi-partisan support from the LNP in 2024: In March, Labor announced funding of $2.6 billion for another pay rise for aged-care nurses. 

Finance: 

‘Better Targeted’ Superannuation Concessions are scheduled to start from 1 July 2025. This will reduce concessions for certain earnings for superannuation balances above $3 million with a 30% concessional tax rate applied This measure has not yet been legislated.

LIBERAL-NATIONAL PARTY (LNP) Coalition

Cost of living relief: 

Agreement to match the $150 ALP Energy promise.

In addition, a 25-cent reduction on the cost of a litre of fuel, by temporarily halving the fuel excise for 12 months.

Government services: 

A plan to remove 41,000 public service jobs to save taxpayer money. 

Housing: 

First homebuyers who purchase a newly built home will be able to deduct the interest on their mortgages from their taxes for five years. This means that buyers would be able to deduct the interest paid on up to $650,000 of their mortgage.

Health and medicines: 

A promise to match Labor’s $8.5 billion bulk billing promise ‘dollar-for-dollar’.

Permanent restoration of the number of subsidised mental health sessions from 10 to 20 for people with a mental health care plan.

Agreement to match the ALP’s $690 million promise to slash the price of PBS-listed medicines to $25.

Aged Care: 

Policy from the Coalition is aspirational at this stage of the campaign. It says it will:

• Deliver independent and dignified aged care, including:
• Funding a sustainable aged care system that is flexible to individual circumstances and provides as much choice as possible. 
• Assisting older Australians wanting to access home care packages to stay in their homes for longer.

Finance and super: 

The Coalition has concerns about the ‘Better Targeted’ super legislation, specifically unrealised capital gains, and suggests that this measure should be indexed.

AUSTRALIAN GREENS

Cost of Living: nothing specific has been released to date.

Housing and renting: 

Establishment of a National Renters Protection Authority with powers to investigate breaches, issue fines, and advocate for tenants. 

A freeze on rents for two years to ensure that unlimited rent increases are illegal.

Renters would be able to get solar installed at their rental property, with upfront costs paid by the government.

Legislated lower mortgage rates (1% above Reserve Bank cash rate)

Age Pension: 

Plans to provide a guaranteed earlier retirement by lowering the pension age to 65 (currently 67).

Deliver targeted benefits to older women, who are disproportionately affected by poverty and precarious work in later life.

Create a fairer system by introducing a consistent taper rate of 60 cents per dollar across all payments, ensuring no one is penalised unfairly for earning additional income.

An increase to Centrelink staffing levels.

Health and medicines: 

Increased access to bulk-billing appointments by boosting incentives to GPs and raising Medicare patient rebates for longer appointments. 

Provide free healthcare by setting up 1,000 free healthcare clinics across Australia.

Provide universal mental health care with a Medicare Card,

Include dental services in Medicare.

Provide free or affordable PBS medicines to anyone with a Medicare card.

Make PBS medications free for concession card holders.

Reduce the cost of PBS medicines for all other Medicare card holders to $7.70

Aged Care: 

Reduce waiting times by uncapping the total number of Home Care Packages.

Ensure timely access by funding Aged Care Assessment Teams to process applications within 30 days.

Finance/super: Nothing definitive – according to the Greens’ website, more initiatives will be released soon.

Comment:

It’s fair to say that early in the campaign there was a lot of ‘Bill and Ben’ policy matching between the government and the opposition, particularly in the sphere of health and PBS medicines. But as the weeks have elapsed, some real differences have emerged. Some policies have also been dropped or modified when they appeared to fall into the ‘too hard to sell’ basket. 

When it comes to older Australians, the most noticeable policy differences are those of the Greens, who are offering some distinct differences on the call for a younger Age Pension age, a modification to the taper rate and a plan to increase Centrelink staffing. To date, the ALP and LNP have barely mentioned older Australians, although this could change in the final fortnight of the campaign as more policies are released. 

But it’s also fair to ask how useful it is to scrutinise the basket of policies designed for, or aimed at, a single generation? Many voters – young, old and in between – will be much more interested in the ‘common good’ for all generations, and their voting intentions may be strongly influenced by factors such as climate change, child care and fiscal responsibility.

What about you?

Is there a single hot-button issue that will guide your vote this election?

Or are you looking at a broad range of policy issues?

Does your age influence your voting preferences, or is it irrelevant?

The above summary does not include the policies of minor parties, such as Pauline Hanson’s One Nation Party and the Trumpet of Patriots. Similarly, there is no summary of the position of individual Teal candidates as they do not form a party, and their views and policies vary on many of the main issues. 

Further information:

It’s hard to go past the excellent summary provided by the ABC news website.

Additionally the ABC has partnered with Vox Pop Labs to create the ‘Vote Compass Australia 2025’ website, which has (at the time of writing) been accessed by 721,000 Australians.

Here you can answer a range of questions about your attitudes and preferred policies and see how closely aligned you are with the major contenders.

Kaye Fallick is a writer and best-selling author. She is also the founder and former publisher of the YourLifeChoices website, which she believes gave her a 20-year ‘apprenticeship’ in learning the health, money, and life stage dramas and concerns of Australian baby boomers. She’s an advocate for Australians over the age of 60, and we are delighted to have her on board, writing content for you.

If you’d like to know more about Kaye, you can visit her website, Staying Connected.