After three wobbly years, Albanese’s second term is taking off

The stack of new Labor MPs is reminiscent of the “class of 96”, which acted as John Howard’s praetorian guard for many years.

Phillip CooreyPolitical editor

May 15, 2025 – 8.00pm

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On the morning of Monday, May 23, 2022, about 36 hours after Labor was declared the winner over Scott Morrison’s Coalition government, Anthony Albanese and Penny Wong raced to Government House to be sworn in ahead of the rest of the ministry.

In stark contrast to this week’s leisurely affair, where the re-elected PM and his entire team took the oath at Yarralumla and posed for photos afterwards, Albanese and Wong dashed back to parliament for a quick press conference before boarding the RAAF VIP jet to Tokyo.

Phillip Coorey is the political editor based in Canberra. He is a two-time winner of the Paul Lyneham award for press gallery excellence.