Federal election 2025: PM’s minority retort as he pleads for majority while MPs mix colours with teals

Labor’s MP in the seat of Solomon Luke Gosling has defended his use of teal-like branding ahead of the May 3 election and denied attempting to distance himself from the government.

The Prime Minister touched down in Darwin on Thursday ahead of a campaign event with Mr Gosling in the NT seat on Friday.

Mr Albanese on Thursday issued a heartfelt plea to disaffected voters, saying a majority government would be a plus for Australia in uncertain times.

He was elected on Labor’s lowest-ever primary vote in 2022 as third parties, including the Greens and teal independents, gained at Labor and the Coalition’s expense.

This has prompted predictions that Labor could be forced into a minority government in its second term with the popularity of third-party candidates tracking around 40 per cent.

Mr Gosling has been running advertisements and branding on his website in local press that carry teal colours.

Simon Holmes à Court, Convenor of Climate 200, which bankrolls teal candidates, likened it to attempts by Liberals Tim Wilson and Dave Sharma to brand themselves as “Modern Liberals”.

“This is the first time we’ve seen a Labor MP seek distance from the mothership,” Mr Holmes à Court told The Nightly.

“Remember when ‘Modern Liberals’ Tim Wilson and Dave Sharma dropped the party logo and adopted teal colouring in 2022?

“Voters spotted it for what it was: wolves in sheep’s clothing.”

But Mr Gosling denied trying to distance himself from Labor and said he was instead trying to reflect his local area.

“We did a branding refresh in 2021 to incorporate the Arafura blue alongside Labor red,” Mr Gosling said.

“That blue is actually the unique colour of our Darwin Harbour waters — and a clear differentiation from the CLP’s ochre orange.”Mr Gosling is not the only Labor MP to use non-red branding.

Cabinet Minister Chris Bowen frequently uses the colour orange on his digital communications and Senator Katy Gallagher’s campaign in the ACT has turned pink.

“People just tell me what the best way to put yourself out there is. But I don’t think anyone would not know that I am with the Labor Party,” she told ABC radio this week.

Labor has held the seat of Solomon since 2016. It is considered a safe seat with a margin of 8.4 per cent. Mr Albanese’s visit to Darwin is his first campaign stop in the Northern Territory.

Speaking earlier while campaigning in Cairns in the far north Queensland electorate of Leichhardt, which is being vacated by the veteran LNP MP Warren Entsch, he pleaded with voters toying with alternative options to put Labor first.

The marginal seat is one Labor is targeting as it clings to its three-seat majority.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton said on a campaign stop in Melbourne that voting Labor in Leichhardt would lead to the Greens in power in Canberra.

“If there is a Labor member elected in Leichhardt that means Anthony forms government with Adam Bandt,” he said.

“That would be a disaster for the people of Leichhardt and for the people of our country. Anthony Albanese is out there telling people that he won’t form a government with the Greens, please know he’s been lying about that.”

Mr Albanese has said he will not do any deals with the Greens to form government but has grown frustrated at repeated questioning on the issue.

“I’m asking for a majority Labor Government because I do think that it does provide the stability that in this uncertain time is a plus,” he said.

Asked if modern campaigning was fit for purpose, he said that while communicating with voters was harder because of fragmentation, misinformation and polarisation, Australia was best poised to remain stable because of its compulsory and preferential voting system.

“The world’s changed,” he said. “That leads to more fragmentation . . . it’s a phenomenon that we see around the world.

“It’s not unique to Australia. But here in Australia, I do make this point, here in Australia, we have an opportunity to elect majority governments. It doesn’t have any most parts of the world.

He said India, Japan and New Zealand were examples of where power was shared between political parties.

“We can have majority governments because of the two-party system, the compulsory preferential system, we should cherish our democracy.

“I’m accountable. We are accountable. Our democracy is strong.

“We have compulsory voting, which means people don’t go to the fringes of appealing to the fringes of either the far left or the far right also.”

He urged voters not to romanticise the past but embrace change that had delivered improved living standards, citing the fact that it wasn’t until 1985 that he boarded his first-ever international flight.