Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has become the country’s first prime minister to win a second consecutive three-year term in 21 years.
“Thank you to the people of Australia for the chance to continue to serve the best nation on Earth,” Albanese told a jubilant crowd at a campaign party in Sydney.
He vowed to steer the nation through a rough patch of global uncertainty.
Photo: AFP
Opposition leader Peter Dutton conceded defeat in yesterday’s election, saying: “We didn’t do well enough during this campaign, that much is obvious tonight, and I accept full responsibility for that.”
“Earlier on, I called the prime minister to congratulate him on his success tonight. It’s an historic occasion for the Labor Party and we recognize that,” he added.
The Australian Electoral Commission’s projections at press time gave Albanese’s ruling center-left Labor Party 70 seats and the conservative opposition coalition 24 seats in the 150-seat Australian House of Representatives, the lower chamber where parties need a majority to form governments. Unaligned minor parties and independent candidates appeared likely to win 13 seats.
Australian Broadcasting Corp election analyst Antony Green predicted Labor would win 76 seats, the coalition 36 and unaligned lawmakers 13.
Labor would form a majority or minority government, and the coalition had no hope of forming even a minority government, Green said.
The election is taking place against a backdrop of what both sides of politics describe as a cost of living crisis.
It was also the first election in Australia in which Baby Boomers, born between born between the end of World War II and 1964, are outnumbered by younger voters. Both campaigns had promised policies to help first-home buyers buy into a property market that is too expensive for many.
MORE VISITORS: The Tourism Administration said that it is seeing positive prospects in its efforts to expand the tourism market in North America and Europe Taiwan has been ranked as the cheapest place in the world to travel to this year, based on a list recommended by NerdWallet. The San Francisco-based personal finance company said that Taiwan topped the list of 16 nations it chose for budget travelers because US tourists do not need visas and travelers can easily have a good meal for less than US$10. A bus ride in Taipei costs just under US$0.50, while subway rides start at US$0.60, the firm said, adding that public transportation in Taiwan is easy to navigate. The firm also called Taiwan a “food lover’s paradise,” citing inexpensive breakfast stalls
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PLUGGING HOLES: The amendments would bring the legislation in line with systems found in other countries such as Japan and the US, Legislator Chen Kuan-ting said Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷) has proposed amending national security legislation amid a spate of espionage cases. Potential gaps in security vetting procedures for personnel with access to sensitive information prompted him to propose the amendments, which would introduce changes to Article 14 of the Classified National Security Information Protection Act (國家機密保護法), Chen said yesterday. The proposal, which aims to enhance interagency vetting procedures and reduce the risk of classified information leaks, would establish a comprehensive security clearance system in Taiwan, he said. The amendment would require character and loyalty checks for civil servants and intelligence personnel prior to
The China Coast Guard has seized control of a disputed reef near a major Philippine military outpost in the South China Sea, Beijing’s state media said, adding to longstanding territorial tensions with Manila. Beijing claims sovereignty over almost all of the South China Sea and has waved away competing assertions from other countries as well as an international ruling that its position has no legal basis. China and the Philippines have engaged in months of confrontations in the contested waters, and Manila is taking part in sweeping joint military drills with the US which Beijing has slammed as destabilizing. The Chinese coast guard
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