Age of Albanese: Labor landslide sets party up for two terms
Anthony Albanese has claimed a historic second election victory in a sweeping result that has left the Coalition devastated.
Anthony Albanese has claimed a historic second election victory in a landslide result that has left the Coalition devastated after Peter Dutton and senior shadow cabinet members were turfed from parliament in a Liberal Party bloodbath.
After inflicting the worst defeat on the Coalition in the conservative party’s history, the Prime Minister said “the Australian people have voted for Australian values, for fairness, for aspiration and opportunity for all”.
Speaking at the Canterbury-Hurlstone Park RSL in Sydney, the same venue where he delivered his 2022 election victory speech in which he endorsed the Uluru Statement from the Heart and an Indigenous voice, Mr Albanese thanked “the people of Australia for the chance to continue to serve the best nation on earth”.
Mr Albanese on Saturday night was on track to win up to 85 seats with a chance of increasing his bumper majority into the 90s, exceeding the expectations of Labor’s pollsters and shattering the Liberal National Party stronghold in Queensland. The Labor leader, who became the first prime minister since John Howard in 1998 to win back-to-back elections, entered the pantheon of ALP legends after achieving a bigger majority victory than Kevin Rudd and Bob Hawke.
After underperforming in Mr Dutton’s home state for decades, Labor was expected to win as many as 14 seats in the sunshine state after claiming the scalp of the Liberal leader in Dickson, which he had held for 24 years.
An emotional Prime Minister, who took to the stage with fiancee Jodie and son Nathan after Mr Dutton conceded defeat in a phone call, declared it was a “time of profound opportunity” for the country and thanked those “who had voted for Labor for the first time”.
“Australians have chosen to face global challenges the Australian way, looking after each other while building for the future. And to serve these values, meet these challenges, these opportunities, and build that better and stronger future, Australians have chosen a majority Labor government,” Mr Albanese said.
“Let us reflect on what we have in common because no matter who you voted for, no matter where you live, no matter how you worship or who you love, whether you belong to a culture that has known and cared for this great continent for 65,000 years or you have chosen our nation as your home and enriched our society with your contribution, we are all Australians.”
The Greens suffered major losses in Griffith and Brisbane, with leader Adam Bandt also falling behind Labor in his seat of Melbourne. The radical left-wing party, which fell short in its bid to win the Victorian ALP seats of Wills and Macnamara, was holding on in the Brisbane seat of Ryan and had its nose ahead in the northern NSW seat of Richmond.
The election also cemented the rising power of the Teals movement, with all of the incumbent Climate-200 funded independents retaining their seats. Other independent candidates were on track to unseat Liberal MPs, while Dai Le withstood a big-spending Labor campaign to retain her western Sydney seat of Fowler. More than one-in-three Australians voted for a minor party or an independent.
In a night where the number of Liberal seats in capital cities plunged to single digits, opposition frontbenchers and rising stars including David Coleman, Michael Sukkar, Keith Wolahan and Luke Howarth were defeated. The ALP dominated across the country, winning Liberal seats in Western Australia, South Australia, Queensland and Tasmania. The Coalition could end up winning around 41 seats if final counting lands in their favour.
In a result that will heap pressure on Coalition polling and campaign execution, Labor strategists were stunned by the scale and consistency of the swings right across the country. While ALP strategists had picked up strong movement in Queensland and elsewhere, many couldn’t believe the final result. “It was the best case scenario come true,” a Labor figure said.
In a 21-minute speech prefaced by an acknowledgment of traditional owners, Mr Albanese delivered an address to the party faithful including campaign mastermind and ALP national secretary Paul Erickson, ALP national president Wayne Swan and trade union chiefs.
Celebrating the “mighty trade union movement of Australia”, which poured millions of dollars and thousands of supporters into Labor’s campaign, Mr Albanese said he would “always stand up for jobs and peoples’ wages and conditions”.
Mr Dutton, who follows John Howard and Tony Abbott as former leaders who lost their seats in general elections, delivered a humble concession speech in Brisbane in which he apologised to Liberal Party MPs who were dumped out of parliament.
“We did not do well enough during this campaign, that much is obvious … and I accept full responsibility for that,” the Opposition Leader said.
“I called the Prime Minister to congratulate him on his success. It is a historic occasion for the Labor Party and we recognise that. I congratulated the Prime Minister and wished he, Jodie and Nathan all the very best and I said to the Prime Minister that his mother would be incredibly proud of his achievement tonight.”
“It is not our night as I point out, and there are good members and candidates who have lost their seats, their ambition and I am sorry for that. We have an amazing party, and we will rebuild.”
After hushing the raucous ALP crowd as he sought to thank Mr Dutton, Mr Albanese told supporters that “what we do in Australia is we treat people with respect”.
Mr Dutton, who for 24 years had held-off Labor challenges in Dickson before Climate 200 joined forces with the ALP and unions to unseat him, rang his successor Ali France to wish her “all the very best”.
Mr Albanese outlined his vision for the country without unveiling any new surprises and said “we must value every Australian and Labor will govern for every Australian”.
“Every Australian who wants a fair go at work, fair wages, fair wages for their work and the right to disconnect when they are done with work. Every Australian who deserves the security of a roof over their head or dreams of owning their own home, every woman who wants her contribution to our economy and society to be valued equally, every parent who wants their child to get the best start in life with cheaper childcare and with fair funding for every student in every school.”
“Everyone who counts on the National Disability Insurance Scheme. Every Australian who knows that climate change is a challenge, we must act together to meet for the future of our environment, and the fact that renewable energy is an opportunity that we must work together to seize for the future of our economy.
“We will be a government that supports reconciliation with First Nations people. Because, we will be a stronger nation when we close the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.”
With 59 per cent of the vote counted, Labor had increased its national primary vote to 34.7 per cent, up from 2.1 per cent compared to its historically low total in 2022. The Coalition suffered a massive blowout in all states and territories except for the Northern Territory, plunging 4.7 per cent down to 31 per cent.
Despite losing seats, the Greens primary vote held steady at around 12.6 per cent. The One Nation vote came in at 6.2 per cent, up by only 1.3 per cent. The ‘others’ category, which includes independents, rose to 13.7 per cent.
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