AUSTRALIA WILL HOLD a general election on 3 May, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has said, locking in a showdown over climate promises, nuclear power and a runaway housing market.

Albanese’s centre-left Labor party took office in May 2022, turfing out a conservative government deeply unpopular after almost a decade in charge.

But initial enthusiasm for Albanese, 62, has evaporated in recent months as he struggles to sell his economic vision to the country.

Polls show him neck-and-neck with right-leaning Peter Dutton, 54, a hard-nosed former detective who wants to cut back on immigration and reverse a ban on nuclear power.

“Over the last few years, the world has thrown a lot at Australia in uncertain times,” the prime minister told reporters.

“Because of the strength and resilience that our people have shown Australia is turning the corner. Now, on 3 May, you choose the way forward.”

Coal mining-superpower Australia will choose between two candidates with sharply contrasting ideas on climate change and emissions reduction.

Albanese’s government has embraced the global push towards decarbonisation, warning of a future in which iron ore and polluting coal exports no longer prop up the economy.

His election catchcry is “building Australia’s future” — an agenda that includes big subsidies for renewable energy and green manufacturing.

A government budget released this week poured money into traditional Labor priorities such as education and healthcare.

“Getting Australia back on track,” is the rival slogan of Dutton.

Dutton’s signature policy is a US$200 billion scheme to construct seven industrial-scale nuclear reactors.

Polling shows economic concerns and the high cost of housing will dominate the contest.

Although inflation has eased under Albanese – from 7.8% in 2022 to 2.4% in December – many households are still struggling with high food, fuel, and power prices.

Both sides have vowed to tackle an overheated housing market.

Sydney now ranks as the second least affordable place to buy on the planet, according to the annual Demographia index, sitting behind only notoriously crammed Hong Kong.

‘Not a monster’

Albanese has spent most of his adult life in politics, rising through the Labor Party ranks from humble working-class beginnings.

He touts his love of indie music and his shaggy cavoodle Toto — and once famously declared that “fighting Tories” was his purpose.

Dutton is a former drug squad detective widely seen as a no-nonsense political “hardman”.

His success will hinge, in part, on efforts to soften this image and broaden his appeal.

Dutton’s wife once told a tabloid newspaper that her misunderstood husband was “not a monster”.

An accomplished minister in the previous conservative government, Dutton has held weighty portfolios such as defence and home affairs.

But he faced heavy criticism for his unyielding treatment of asylum seekers as Australia’s immigration minister.

Independents day

Australian politics has long been dominated by Albanese’s left-leaning Labor Party and Dutton’s right-leaning Liberals.

But growing disenchantment among voters has emboldened independents pushing for greater transparency and climate progress.

Polls suggest 10 or more unaligned crossbenchers could hold the balance of power — making a rare minority government a distinct possibility.

The two major parties largely agree on defence and national security, committing Australia to an increasingly close military alliance with the United States.

But they have differed over China in the past.

Albanese has upped engagement with key trading partner China and made a breakthrough trip to Beijing in 2023, the first Australian leader to visit in seven years.

The previous conservative government was highly critical of China, igniting a trade war that cost Australia billions of dollars until subsiding late last year.