Abstract
Populist discourses were ubiquitous during the 2025 election campaign, with the spectre of Donald Trump once again looming large. Drawing on content analysis data from 2024 and 2025, this chapter explores the key vectors of populist discourse in the 2025 election, including the roles of Sky News Australia, conservative digital campaigning group Advance and right-wing populist minor parties Trumpet of Patriots and Pauline Hanson’s One Nation. It critically examines how the Peter Dutton–led Coalition initially found itself swimming with the tide of populism, buoyed by the defeat of the Indigenous Voice to Parliament and the success of anti-elite discourses in Trump’s presidential campaign. However, as the association with Trump became a political liability, the Coalition found itself unable to pivot effectively in a new direction. The chapter concludes by arguing that Labor’s emphatic victory highlights the contingent nature of populism in the Australian political landscape.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | Landslide |
| Subtitle of host publication | the 2025 Australian Federal Election |
| Editors | Marian Sawer, Jill Sheppard, John Warhurst |
| Place of Publication | Canberra |
| Publisher | ANU Press |
| Chapter | 4 |
| Pages | 67-86 |
| Number of pages | 20 |
| ISBN (Electronic) | 9781760467265 |
| ISBN (Print) | 9781760467258 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2026 |
Bibliographical note
Copyright the Author(s) 2026. Version archived for private and non-commercial use with the permission of the author/s and according to publisher conditions. For further rights please contact the publisher.Keywords
- populism
- anti-elitism
- woke
- Sky News Australia
- Advance
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