By BY BBC| Labor’s Anthony Albanese has defied the so-called “incumbency curse” to be re-elected Australia’s prime minister in a landslide.
Official vote counting won’t finish for days, but Albanese’s center-left government will dramatically increase its majority after the conservative Liberal-National coalition suffered a thumping defeat nationwide.
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“Today, the Australian people have voted for Australian values: for fairness, aspiration and opportunity for all; for the strength to show courage in adversity and kindness to those in need,” Albanese said.
Coalition leader Peter Dutton, who lost his own seat of 24 years, said he accepted “full responsibility” for his party’s loss and apologised to his MPs.
Labor has seen swings towards them right across the country – a rare feat for a second-term government in Australia – and Albanese becomes the first prime minister to win back-to-back elections in over 20 years.
The party’s success has also tempered a trend of voters abandoning the two major parties, which was the big story of the last election in 2022.
Labor is on track to finish with 86 seats, the Coalition about 40, and the Greens Party with one or two, according to projections by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). Other minor parties and independents are ahead in nine seats.
That represents an increase of nine for Labor and a significant drop in support for the Greens. However most “teal” independents have been returned in their more conservative, inner-city electorates.
It’s a remarkable turnaround from the start of the year, when polling put Albanese’s popularity at record lows after three years of global economic pain, tense national debate, and growing government dissatisfaction.
The five-week campaign was dominated by cost-of-living concerns – particularly the affordability of healthcare and housing – with issues like energy and climate change, international relations, and migration also rearing their heads.
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Albanese touched on most of them on Saturday night. He reiterated his promises to make healthcare – most critically GP appointments – more affordable, put buying a house in reach for more Australians, and do more to address climate change and protect the environment.
Notably, he also vowed to advance reconciliation for First Nations people: “We will be a stronger nation when we Close the Gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.”
It’s a veiled referenced to the biggest moment of Albanese’s tenure, the failed Voice referendum of October 2023, which sought to recognize Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the constitution, and simultaneously establish a parliamentary advisory body for them.
Australia remains the only Commonwealth country to have never signed a treaty with its Indigenous people.
