Australia news as it happened: Albanese unveils new-look ministry; Littleproud remains Nationals leader after Canavan contest

Thanks for joining us today, there was a bit happening! We will have more for you in our next coverage. A quick summary of today:

• Anthony Albanese unveiled his new cabinet, shaped by factional deals.
• David Littleproud was returned as National Party leader, despite a challenge from fellow Queenslander and net zero sceptic Matt Canavan.
• Ahead of tomorrow’s Liberal Party leadership vote, Angus Taylor has denied he was plotting for the leadership before Peter Dutton and his party lost the election. The Greens will vote for their new leader on Thursday.
• Another four seats were declared today: Most notably Kooyong, which returns to teal independent Dr Monique Ryan. The Liberals held the NSW seat of Bradfield and the Queensland seat of Fisher, while Labor has retained the southern Canberra seat of Bean. Five seats remain too close to call.
• And Tim Wilson, the Liberal close to getting back his old job of Goldstein MP, is mulling whether to join the race for opposition leader. We waited to see whether he’d formally declare his candidacy today, but nothing happened on this front.

Looking a little further ahead, and the Greens will hold their leadership ballot this Thursday to find a replacement for Adam Bandt.

Barbara Pocock, a South Australian senator, appeared on the ABC this afternoon, where she was asked whether deputy leader Mehreen Faruqi could be elevated to the top job, and whether this would “show the party is keen to pursue issues around Gaza, given [Faruqi] has been outspoken on that particular issue”.

Palestinians struggle to get donated food at a community kitchen in Khan Younis on Sunday, May 11.Credit: AP

“I am confident that the leader, when they are appointed, will be part of the reflection that we do after this election, as we do after every election with the party room and consider what the vision is for the period ahead,” she said.

“We took very strong policies on climate and environment along with social justice and economic justice issues like housing, like getting dental into Medicare to the last election.”

Some Zionist groups – and Liberal figures – have suggested the Greens’ position on the overseas conflict cost the Greens, and especially Bandt, at the ballot box on May 3.

But Pocock joined her colleagues in denying this was the case.

“When I hear that, I think about Bob Hawke who spent decades of his life fighting apartheid in South Africa, circumstance that is a long way from Australia,” she said.

“When he became prime minister, he drew together the international community to impose financial penalties on the South Africa regime and its apartheid consequences. We took leadership on an important international issue which had important, positive consequences for the people, especially black people, of South Africa.

“We [now] have the most progressive government that we have seen in Australia – certainly in my lifetime, more opportunity for progressive interaction than there was under the Hawke government.”

Independent MP Monique Ryan has officially claimed victory in Kooyong (for a second time), after receiving a concession call from Liberal challenger Amelia Hamer this afternoon.

“I guess I can again, having done it about 10 days ago – but, again, it looks like I’ve been successful in holding the seat of Kooyong at this election,” she laughed sheepishly.

Monique Ryan claims the seat of Kooyong outside her office on Monday afternoon.Credit: Eddie Jim

Read more in our Victorian hot seats blog here.

With the Nationals having re-elected David Littleproud as their leader, attention now turns to who the Coalition’s senior partner the Liberals will choose in its ballot for Peter Dutton’s successor on Tuesday.

Liberal senator Dave Sharma was just on ABC News 24, when he was asked who of Angus Taylor or Sussan Ley offered a platform to take the party forward.

Dave Sharma.Credit: Kate Geraghty

“I think both. Both recognise we failed to heed and learn some of the lessons of the 2022 result [where the Coalition lost 19 seats and government] and we need to be a little more rigorous and exhaustive in our self-examination as a result of this [election] loss,” he said.

Asked whether the Liberals needed the next leader to take them to the centre, Sharma also gave a vague answer: “[What] I am keen on is a leader who can ideally bring the party room together and make use of all of our talents and capabilities.”

Earlier today, Sharma said he was aware that Tim Wilson was also mulling a tilt at the Liberal leadership, having just been reinstated as member for Goldstein.

He said Wilson hadn’t been in touch with him.

Wilson has declared victory over sitting MP Zoe Daniel in Goldstein, in Melbourne’s inner southeast, though Daniel has not conceded defeat and nearly 8000 votes are yet to be counted.

With AAP

Liberal Party candidate for Kooyong Amelia Hamer has conceded the contest for that seat to incumbent independent Monique Ryan.

In a post to social media on Monday afternoon, Hamer said she had phoned Ryan to congratulate the former doctor on her win.

Read more on our Victorian hot seats blog here.

Returning to one of the main stories today, and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s one-time Left faction rival Tanya Plibersek will remain in cabinet as the minister for social services after weeks of speculation about her future.

The Prime Minister unveiled his new cabinet today.

Plibersek’s move to a different role was widely anticipated after Albanese refused to confirm she would stay on in the environment portfolio.

During the final months of the last parliament, he stepped in to overrule Plibersek on a federal environmental protection agency and salmon farming.

The ministry will be sworn in by the governor-general tomorrow.

Read more from federal political reporter Natassia Chrysanthos here.

A Greens senator has just appeared to confirm the party will back a key Labor housing policy.

During the election campaign the government announced it would guarantee a portion of a first home buyer’s home loan, so people could buy a home with a 5 per cent deposit and not pay lenders mortgage insurance.

Senator Barbara Pocock.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

On ABC News 24 just now, Senator Barbara Pocock was asked about whether her party would back this policy, and she replied, “The mandate is there for that.

“We will want to be seeing significant change on housing supply in particular,” she said.

“The issue that we had with the deposit change is that it is modest in its effect and it actually will feed demand.

“What we need to do is make sure we grow the supply, and that will affect the ability of people to enter the market.

“We [also] need to look at renters and follow the example of the ACT and look at rent caps for those who are being priced out of their rental into homelessness.”

The Greens were criticised for delaying the government’s housing agenda during the last term of parliament.

With five seats still undecided, Labor will hold at least 93 of the 150 seats in the new lower house, and the Coalition currently has 41 – 35 short of what it needs to form government.

Darren Chester, MP for Gippsland in Victoria’s east, was just on ABC News’s Afternoon Briefing, where he was asked if he felt deflated by the amount of work in front of the Coalition.

Nationals MP Darren Chester.Credit: Simon Schluter

“I am an optimist but a realist,” Chester said.

“There is no question this is challenging. [But] having watched the Albanese government up close during the past three years, [it] is good at campaigning but not good at government.

“They have a large margin, I accept that, but the support on the ground and people are changing their allegiances in voting patterns now. You are seeing a fragmentation in the vote. If we get better and offer a credible choice, we can be competitive at the next election.”

Returned Nationals leader David Littleproud was grilled on a few key policies and issues at his press conference this afternoon.

Here were his answers:

Nationals leader David Littleproud (centre) at a press conference following a Nationals party room meeting on the leadership at Parliament House.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

On whether he would support the Liberals’ net zero emissions policy without nuclear power: “I’m not getting into hypotheticals. The reality is I think it’s important to respect the process. That’s what it is to lead the National Party, to respect those that are in that room and the diversity of views in there, and to work to a position that is in the nation’s interests and in regional Australia’s interest.”

On Senator Matt Canavan challenging him for the leadership: “I don’t know the numbers. The beauty of the National Party is those numbers are never told. The reality is, I don’t take anything for granted.”

On Jacinta Nampijinpa Price defecting to the Liberal Party: “We are disappointed. But we’re going to be the adults in the room because that’s what the National Party’s been for the last three years … I’m proud of the fact that over those three years, the National Party gave support beyond doubt to Jacinta. And Jacinta has made that very clear. She got more support than she could ever believe. We had the courage to come with her on the No [on the Voice referendum]. We got her a [shadow cabinet] position. And what I want to see is a strong Liberal Party that can hopefully rebuild, because this is all for nothing, unless we’re on the other side of the chamber.”

On what changes he wants to the agreement with the Coalition: “I don’t intend to telecast the discussions I intend to have with the new Liberal Party leadership, whatever that may be tomorrow.”

Kevin Hogan, the new deputy leader of the Nationals, has sought to draw attention to the strength of the party’s hold on regional Australia.

“We are a very important political body, and we’ll continue to be so … We have not lost a federal parliamentary seat since 2007,” he said.

David Littleproud (left), Kevin Hogan and Bridget McKenzie.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

The Nationals lost the lower house seat of Calare in 2022, when MP Andrew Gee left to sit as an independent in protest against the party’s opposition to the now-failed Voice to parliament. Gee won Calare again at the election this year.

Nationals senator Bridget McKenzie added that it was clear the Australian electorate had handed the Coalition “a significant defeat”.

“We need to respect their decision and we need to have a deep, honest look at what went wrong. I know that will take a period of time, and I look forward to participating fully in those discussions.

“But as David and Kevin have said, the National Party provides stability and strength to the Coalition over a long period of time.

“We won’t take a backward step from pursuing the policies and the principles of the 9 million Australians that have sent us here. And as David clearly outlined, they’ve made it clear who they back.”