Albanese vows to bring Aussies together, end to climate wars, better social services

Australians awoke on Sunday to a new prime minister in Anthony Albanese, the centre-left Labour Party leader whose ascension to the nation’s top job from being raised in social housing by a single mother on a disability pension was said to reflect the changed fabric of the country.

With counting set to continue for many days as postal votes are tallied, one prospect that emerged was that Albanese may need to be sworn in as acting prime minister to attend Tuesday’s Quad summit in Tokyo with US President Joe Biden, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The election delivered a clear rebuke to Australia’s traditional two-party system, both to Labour and the heavily defeated conservative coalition led by the Liberal party’s outgoing Prime Minister Morrison. The major parties bled votes to fringe parties and independents, including in many seats considered Labour or coalition strongholds.

Needing 76 seats in the lower parliamentary chamber, the House of Representatives, to govern in its own right, Labour on Sunday afternoon was called the winner in 71, with 67% of votes counted, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corp.

The Liberal-National coalition was ahead in just 52 — drastically down from its bare-majority 76 in the 2019 poll, in what analysts called a fierce rejection of Morrison and his team’s handling of many issues in its three-year term including climate, COVID-19, women’s rights,

such as bushfires and floods.

A total of 15 seats had been declared for independents or minor party candidates. Of these, three were from the environment-centric Green party and 12 were nonaligned politicians, with up to nine of those so-called teal independents.

While Labour will form either a majority or minority government, both major parties lost ground, with support for the coalition dropping by more than 6% from the 2019 election,

as of Sunday morning.

The country’s 31st leader vowed to bring Australians together, increase investment in social services and “end the climate wars”. He also asserted that he intends to take the country in a new direction, with a big shift in climate policy. He added that he wants to make Australia a renewable energy superpower. For Australians who have been suffering a series of natural calamities in the past few years, this election climate change was a key concern for the voters.

Albanese vowed to bring Australians together, increase investment in social services and “end the climate wars”