Australia has re-elected Anthony Albanese as Prime Minister, making history in the process and defying polls.
Connecting with election campaigners within Australia
In an astonishing result, the left-leaning Australian Labor Party (ALP) confounded expectations that months ago put it on a course for defeat. Instead, its right-wing rivals in the Liberal Party suffered losses including their party leader’s own MP seat in Queensland.
Inner-city Sydney MP Mr Albanese, casually known as ‘Albo’, is the first Australian prime minister to win a second term since 2004. His Labor party was returned to power with an increased majority of 15 seats to total 87 MPs in the 150-member parliament in Canberra, surpassing the 76 required to form government.
Brought up by a single mother on a disability pension in social housing in inner city Sydney, Albanese’s Labor campaign focused on issues around healthcare, free education, home ownership and taxpayer tax cuts. He told victorious supporters, “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.”
Opposition leader Peter Dutton received criticism for his right wing party’s incoherent campaign, and said he “took full responsibility” for the loss which saw him lose his MP seat of 24 years in the Brisbane suburbs. Dutton acknowledged the huge loss the Coalition had faced, saying: “Our Liberal family is hurting across the country tonight, including in my electorate of Dickson… We’ll rebuild from here.”
The former police officer had attracted extra criticism as ‘Australia’s Trump’ with a mirroring of the policies of the US president. Dutton had proposed a unit similar to America’s Department of Government Efficiency, which some analysts warned would lead to up to 40,000 local civil service job losses. A senior colleague in the party was pictured wearing a ‘Make Australia Great Again’ hat, drawing more unpopular comparisons with the US administration.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin took to social media in Dublin to acknowledge the election outcome. He said, “Congratulations PM Anthony Albanese on your election victory. The bonds between Ireland and Australia are as strong as ever.” And he added, “I look forward to working with you on deepening those ties and addressing challenges facing the world.”
Traditionally, Irish-born Australians have supported the Australian Labor Party which maintains links with its sister parties in Dublin and London. However, Dublin-born Keith Wolahan is a prominent Liberal Party MP in Melbourne and a would-be successor to Mr Dutton. Consequently, Mr Wolahan was also a casualty of his party’s electoral drubbing, losing the seat to Labor for the first time last Saturday.
Mr Albanese has Irish heritage through his late mother, Maryanne Ellery. He visited Ireland for a wedding in 2005 and speculation centers around whether the Irish government will invite the new Prime Minister for a state visit, mirroring that of President Mary McAleese to Australia in 2003. Former Prime Minister and party colleague of Anthony Albanese, Kevin Rudd is now the Australian Ambassador to the United States in Washington, DC.
Speaking exclusively to this correspondent from Tasmania, ALP grassroots campaigner and trade union organizer Scott Plimpton explained the relief in the Labor Party’s victory. The former ALP Abroad activist in London said, “The strength of Labor in election campaigns is the sheer amount of volunteers we can deploy. The Liberals instead did dodgy deals…to get assistance in the field. Tasmania has now gone from two MPs to four out of five seats under Labor. The Liberals have been wiped off the map.”