Labor Party leader to be Australia’s new prime minister after election

the voters australians rejected the country’s current centre-right government, ending the nine-year period of an alliance between liberals and nationalists in power in favor of the centre-left opposition, which promises strong action against the climate changes .

For now, Australian Labor Party leader Anthony Albanese is expected to form a parliamentary minority government, but he could still win a majority as the vote count continues, according to projections from three news outlets.

Parties need a 76-seat majority to form a majority government. Currently, the Labor Party has won 73, according to the Australian Election Commission.

The initial count showed a strong bias towards independent and Green Party candidates demanding cuts in greenhouse gas emissions far above the commitments made by Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s coalition.

Amanda McKenzie, CEO of the Climate Council research group, declared the fight against climate change the winner of the vote.

“Millions of Australians have put climate first. Now is the time for a radical redefinition of how our great nation addresses the climate challenge,” she said in a statement.

Albanese served as a minister in the previous Labor government under Prime Ministers Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard, before taking over as Labor leader following the party’s most recent electoral defeat in 2019.

The defeat hurt Labour, but they returned to the election campaign with more modest promises to avoid scaring voters worried about sweeping changes.

Instead of a contest of proposals, the election focused on the character of the leaders. Morrison is deeply unpopular with voters, and appeared to recognize this when he admitted during the final week of the campaign that he had acted “a bit like a bulldozer.”

He was referring to the difficult decisions made during the pandemic and the choice to break a submarine deal with France, but he also reflected assertions about his leadership style, considered more authoritarian than collaborative.

Speaking to his supporters on Saturday night, Morrison said he called Albanese and congratulated him on his election victory. “I have always believed in Australians and their judgment, and I have always been prepared to accept their verdict.”

“Three years ago I stood before you and said I believed in miracles. I still believe in miracles,” he said, pointing to his family. “But there is another great miracle I want to thank you for tonight. And that is the miracle of the Australian people. What Australians have suffered in recent years has shown tremendous depth of character, resilience and strength.”

What will Albanian do as prime minister?

One of Albanese’s first priorities as prime minister will be to rebuild relations with foreign leaders, which he says Morrison has neglected in recent years.

They include leaders from the islands of Pacific including the Solomon Islands, whose leader has signed a security pact with Beijing, stoking fears that the China plans to build its first military base in the Pacific.

On Tuesday (24), Albanese should travel to Tokyo to meet with Quad members a group formed by Australia, the United States, India and Japan, where they will discuss priorities to safeguard free navigation in the Indo-Pacific.

The climate crisis was one of the defining issues of the election, as one of the few points of difference between the government and Labour, and one of the top concerns of voters, according to polls.

Marija Taflaga, director of the Australian National University’s Center for Political Studies in Australia, said the turn towards the Green Party was remarkable. “I think everyone was taken aback by these results… I think it will mean there will be bigger and faster action on climate change more broadly.”

Labor has pledged to cut emissions by 43% by 2030 and reach zero by 2050, in part by strengthening the mechanism used to pressure companies to make cuts.

But the Climate Analytics research institute says the labor plans are not ambitious enough to keep the global temperature rise at 1.5C, as outlined in the Paris Agreement.

Labor policies are more consistent with a 2C rise, the institute said, slightly better than the coalition’s plan.

To accelerate the transition to renewable energy, the Labor Party plans to modernize Australia’s power grid and launch solar banks and community batteries. But despite its commitment, Labor says it will approve new coal projects if they are environmentally and economically viable.

Albanese is supporting a 5.1% increase in the minimum wage, although it has no power to enforce it, with only leeway to present a recommendation to the Fair Labor Commission that the minimum wage keep pace with inflation.

modest origin

Albanese often refers to his past as the son of a single mother to demonstrate his commitment to making life better for struggling Australians.

His mother, Maryanne, suffered from rheumatoid arthritis and was living on disability benefits while raising him alone in social housing in the 1960s.

“It gave me a determination every day to help people like me have a better life. And I think that’s what Australians want,” he told the National Press Club in January.

He has repeatedly credited his mother for his strength during his campaign, most recently on Friday when he paid tribute to an “incredible woman”.

“She would be proud because she made the courageous decision in 1963 to keep a child she had out of wedlock,” he said.

Albanese’s father was a flight attendant on a cruise ship, and the new Australian prime minister was born out of a brief affair that was scandalous at the time for a single Catholic woman.

So she told him that his father had died to spare him the truth.

“It was a difficult decision,” he says. “It says something about the pressure that has been placed on women and the pressures that are still placed on women when faced with difficult circumstances. The fact that I am running for prime minister says a lot about her and her courage, but it also says a lot about this country.”

Albanese may have won over the Australians, but one of his challenges as prime minister will be to unite his party’s factions, said Zareh Ghazarian, a professor of politics at Monash University.

“He presented himself as someone who is going to be a sensible leader. The challenge he will have is to stay at the top and stay at the top of the Labor Party bench,” he said.
Williams of Griffith University said that Albanese has no experience with large portfolios, but predicted he would “grow up in the field”.

“I think it’s going to be a steep learning curve for Albanese because he hasn’t had a very senior portfolio in other governments, like treasurer or foreign minister. And it will be played at the Quad meeting next week, it’s a baptism by fire,” he said.