‘The Australian people have voted for change’: Albanese claims victory

Labor leader Anthony Albanese has claimed victory in an extraordinary federal election that has swept the Coalition out of power while vaulting independent candidates into parliament to create a more powerful crossbench to negotiate with the new government.

Albanese is on track to form government with a narrow majority after seizing ground from the Liberals across eastern states and storming home in Western Australia late on election night.

Anthony Albanese, with his partner Jodie Haydon and son Nathan, claiming victory on Saturday night. “I will lead a government worthy of the people of Australia,” he said.Credit: Janie Barrett

But more than a dozen seats were still in doubt at midnight and Labor insiders acknowledged the possibility of governing in a hung parliament with support from a crossbench with more Greens and independents.

“Tonight the Australian people have voted for change,” Albanese told the Labor faithful gathered at the Canterbury-Hurlstone Park RSL in Sydney’s inner-west.

“My Labor team will work every day to bring Australians together.

“And I will lead a government worthy of the people of Australia – a government as courageous and hardworking and caring as the Australian people are themselves.”

The splintering in support across the nation saw both major parties suffer a backlash, with Labor losing ground in some of its heartland seats. But the moderate wing of the Liberals was decimated as independent candidates, all women, drove the party out of its most prestigious seats in major cities. Voters also rejected Liberals in key marginal seats in favour of Labor candidates.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison conceded defeat shortly after 10.30pm on Saturday after phoning Albanese to congratulate the Labor leader on his party’s victory.

Addressing supporters in Sydney, Morrison said he would step down as Liberal leader but stay in parliament. He said the low primary vote support for both major parties reflected the “upheaval” in the community during the coronavirus pandemic.

“To my colleagues tonight, who have had to deal with very difficult news and have lost their seats tonight, I, as leader, take responsibility for the wins and the losses,” he said.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison concedes defeat: “I, as leader, take responsibility for the wins and the losses.”Credit: James Brickwood

“That is the burden and that is the responsibility of leadership. As a result, I will be handing over the leadership at the next party room meeting to ensure the party can be taken forward under new leadership which is the appropriate thing to do.”

Acknowledging it was a night of disappointment for the Liberals and Nationals, Morrison said it was also a time for Coalition members and supporters across the country to hold their heads high.

“We have been a strong government, we have been a good government, Australia is stronger as a result of our effort over these last three terms,” he said. “And I have no doubt, under the strong leadership of our Coalition three years from now, I’m looking forward to the return of a Coalition government.”

He emphasised the need for a swift election outcome as the incoming prime minister is due to attend the “Quad” summit with leaders from the United States, India and Japan in Tokyo on Tuesday.

“I think it is vitally important that there is a very clear understanding about the government of this country,” Morrison said.

With Treasurer Josh Frydenberg facing defeat in his Melbourne seat of Kooyong, where independent candidate Monique Ryan claimed victory, the Liberals could turn to Defence Minister Peter Dutton as their next leader after the rout of moderates.

In a devastating election night for the moderate wing of the party, Liberals including Katie Allen, Trevor Evans, Jason Falinski, Fiona Martin, Celia Hammond, Dave Sharma, Tim Wilson and Trent Zimmerman were set to join Frydenberg in losing their seats to independents, Labor or the Greens.

One Liberal who had crossed the floor on an integrity commission and protections for transgender students, Bridget Archer, held the Tasmanian seat of Bass after removing the Liberal brand from her campaign.

Labor suffered a fall in its primary vote but made enough gains with preferences from the Greens and others to pick up seats.

“It looks like we’ve won half a dozen seats,” Labor campaign spokesman Jason Clare said shortly before 9pm.

Albanese has ruled out modifying his climate change target to secure power in the event of a hung parliament but may be forced to discuss policies with a powerful crossbench that includes more Greens MPs as well as independents.

Labor appeared on track to gain Bennelong and Reid in Sydney, Chisholm in Melbourne, Boothby in Adelaide and Swan in Perth. It also expressed confidence it could make further inroads in seats such as Brisbane, where it has edged ahead of the Liberals, in Pearce in Perth and possibly Robertson on the NSW central coast.

While the NSW south coast electorate of Gilmore was a potential bright spot for the Coalition, with former state transport minister Andrew Constance ahead of Labor incumbent Fiona Phillips at 11pm, it did not make the gains in suburban and regional electorates that some insiders claimed only days ago.

Morrison campaigned vigorously in western Sydney seats including Werriwa and Parramatta but Labor held both seats. This meant the Coalition lost ground in blue-ribbon Liberal electorates in the cities, where independents campaigned on climate change and integrity, without any gains in outer suburban seats.

Former journalist Zoe Daniel claimed victory over Wilson in Goldstein and praised supporters for backing the independent movement against the major parties.

Frydenberg acknowledged he could lose his seat and thanked Australians for their support while he was treasurer, saying he was proud of the work he and other ministers had done to save jobs during the coronavirus pandemic.

“It’s something I will be proud of from now until the end of time,” he told supporters. Without formally conceding power, he acknowledged his press conference in recent days on the 3.9 per cent unemployment rate “looks like being” his last as treasurer.

In Sydney, Liberal MPs Zimmerman in North Sydney and Falinski in Mackellar were also on track to be replaced by independents Kylea Tink and Sophie Scamps respectively.

Greens leader Adam Bandt hailed the result as a strong show of support for his party, with potential gains in the seat of Griffith in Queensland, held by Labor frontbencher Terri Butler.

In another shock to Labor, the party appeared likely to lose the western Sydney seat of Fowler to an independent, Dai Le, who galvanised local support against the Labor decision to impose a candidate from outside the electorate by putting forward human affairs spokeswoman and former NSW premier Kristina Keneally.

Finance Minister Simon Birmingham confirmed the dire threat to the Liberals from the loss of seats it had held for decades and in some cases since Federation.

“It is a clear problem that we are losing seats that are heartland seats, that have defined the Liberal Party for generations,” he said.

“We need to heed the message because forming government in the future without winning those sorts of seats is a next to impossible task.”

Independent MP Zali Steggall claimed victory in her seat of Warringah in northern Sydney against Liberal challenger Katherine Deves, one of the most contentious candidates in the election due to her strong public comments about transgender people in sport.

NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet said on Saturday the party had to rethink the way it chose its candidates after the experience of the 2022 campaign, while Birmingham expressed similar concerns.

ABC election analyst Antony Green calculated in August that Labor would need a national result of 51.8 per cent in the two-party vote to form government, but warned against assuming a uniform swing.

Green estimated the Coalition started the campaign with 76 seats while Labor had 69 of the 151 total, taking into account redistributions in Victoria and Western Australia since the last election.

With 27 per cent of the vote counted at about 10pm on Saturday night, Labor had 52.3 per cent of the vote and the Coalition had 47.7 per cent in the Australian Electoral Commission tally.

The Australian Electoral Commission began counting at 6pm but played down hopes for a swift result by noting it had received 2.7 million postal vote applications in this campaign, up from 1.5 million at the last election, and would not start counting them until Sunday afternoon.

Ballots cast during the two weeks of early voting were counted from Saturday afternoon.

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