Five Top Issues for Young Voters in The 2025 Federal Election: Insights from The Australian Youth Barometer

Drawing from CYPEP’s Australian Youth Barometer and other recent surveys of young people, this report summarises the key issues identified by young Australians that we believe should inform political parties’ policy platforms in the run-up to the 2025 Australian federal election. Numerous surveys in Australia have identified a variety of issues that overlap in significant ways. For example, The Salvation Army’s 2021 Social Justice Stocktake asked Australians to reflect on social justice in their communities. The top five issues Australians wanted addressed were mental health (53.9%), housing affordability (52.4%), alcohol and drug misuse (42.6%), family violence (35.4%), and homelessness (35.1%). According to Mission Australia, young people aged 15–19 identified the most important issues in Australia today as the cost of living, climate change and the environment, violence, safety and crime, and mental health. Our own survey of young people aged 18–24, the 2024 Australian Youth Barometer, found the top five issues that young people think needed immediate action in Australia were affordable housing options for young people (73%), employment opportunities for young people (52%), climate change (40%), race relations and racial inequality (32%), and gender inequality at work and in public places (29%).
This paper focuses on the following five issues identified by young people across several surveys:
1. Housing affordability
2. Employment and finances
3. Climate change
4. Inequality and discrimination
5. Health and mental health∗
In our discussion of each issue, we highlight the significant findings that should inform any policy responses.