Australia’s Labor Party is set to take power for the first time since 2013 as voters booted out Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s government in a shift likely to bring greater action on climate change, women’s issues and anti-corruption efforts.
Morrison conceded defeat last night and congratulated Anthony Albanese on the victory for the Labor Party, which was closing in on a majority in the 151-seat parliament.
Australian Broadcasting Corp said Labor won at least 72 seats, compared with 52 for Morrison’s Liberal-National Coalition, with independents and third parties taking the rest.
Photo: Reuters
“In this country, at a time like this, when we look around the world, and particularly when we see those in the Ukraine fighting for their very freedom and liberty, I think on a night like tonight we can reflect on the greatness of our democracy,” Morrison said in conceding the election. “I congratulate Anthony Albanese and the Labor Party, and I wish him and his government all the very best.”
Environmental issues helped swing the vote, with climate-focused independents and the Green party — which saw its best-ever result — snatching once-safe seats from the two major parties.
Albanese, a career politician with working-class roots, is poised to inherit an economy with record-low unemployment that is also facing the fastest price gains since June 2001.
He has promised to increase wages for workers, improve the social safety net and do more to fight climate change in a nation that exports more fossil fuels than any country apart from Russia and Saudi Arabia.
Albanese is to face an immediate foreign-policy test, as Australia’s leader is set to head to Tokyo to participate in meetings of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue alongside US President Joe Biden, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The grouping of democracies has picked up momentum in recent years as a key bloc countering China’s growing economic and military might in the region.
China’s security pact with the Solomon Islands, which is about 2,000km away from Australia, disrupted Morrison’s efforts to make national defense a key part of his campaign strategy.
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