Scott Morrison will move swiftly to reconvene parliament and demand passage of his $158 billion income tax cut plan, claiming the Coalition has a mandate for its budget reforms following a historic election victory that is poised to deliver it majority government.
Opening talks with independents yesterday as counting continued in five seats that remained too close to call, the Prime Minister said among his first priorities would be implementing tax cuts, securing “urgent” counter-terrorism legislation and addressing failures in the National Disability Insurance Scheme.
As the Coalition also looked set to increase its presence in a Senate that is likely to be more “friendly”, Mr Morrison told The Australian that farmer protection laws, implementation of a mental health plan and anti-violence social media reforms would feature on a long list of measures to be prioritised.
While a final election result may not be known until later this week, as of last night the Coalition appeared to be on track for a one-seat majority with a surprise two-party-preferred swing towards it of just under 1 per cent, giving it a decisive lead likely to exceed 51-49 and assuring it of a third term in government.
Mr Morrison, who yesterday went to a rugby league match featuring his team Cronulla after spending the morning at the Prime Minister’s Sydney residence, Kirribilli House, said he would seek advice on the earliest date parliament could be convened.
“I’m keen to get back into parliament as soon as we can … we will move promptly,” the Prime Minister said. “We have a lot to do. There is no other way, absolutely no other way … we put the budget to the Australian people, the whole thing, we handed down a budget, we now expect to pass a budget in its entirety.”
Mr Morrison accused Bill Shorten of trash-talking Australia and “sneering” at workers. He said a “silent majority” of voters ultimately rejected Labor’s class war.
“I believed (a Coalition win) was possible, I believed what we had to say connected to how Australians felt about the world,” Mr Morrison said.
“Labor had a very negative view of Australia; they misread the mood for change.
“Their big-tax and big-spending agenda was dressed up as vision … as John Howard said, they were dividing people …. I said it was about bringing people together … The idea of punishing some people and rewarding other people, Australians felt very uncomfortable about that.
As the numbers stood last night, the Coalition had secured 75 seats in the expanded 151-seat House of Representatives, with Labor on 65 seats. There are likely to be six crossbenchers, with five seats still undecided where the gap was less than 1 per cent.
Those seats too close to call and where the Coalition was slightly in front included Bass in Tasmania, Boothby in South Australia and the Victorian seat of Chisholm vacated by former Liberal MP Julia Banks.
Malcolm Turnbull’s former seat of Wentworth in Sydney swung back in the Liberal Party’s favour last night with Dave Sharma set to oust independent Kerryn Phelps, who took the seat only seven months ago in a by-election forced by the former prime minister’s resignation.
Labor was slightly ahead in the NSW seat of Macquarie and Queensland seat of Lilley formerly held by Wayne Swan.
The Labor heartland seat of Hunter was also in doubt, as the One Nation candidate was close to securing second place, opening the possibility of ousting MP Joel Fitzgibbon on the back of Nationals preferences. The result is also likely to see a record number of women Liberal MPs elected to both houses of parliament.
A new cabinet will be sworn in by the weekend when counting ends with senior ministers including Treasurer and deputy Liberal leader Josh Frydenberg, Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton, Senate leader and Finance Minister Mathias Cormann, Health Minister Greg Hunt and Foreign Minister Marise Payne likely to stay in their portfolios.
West Australian senator Linda Reynolds will be the new defence minister
With Labor now facing an internal crisis amid jostling for the leadership, deputy leader Tanya Plibersek has confirmed that she will take on rival NSW left-wing powerbroker Anthony Albanese in a ballot that may take a month to resolve and threatens to ignite a new factional war.
Mr Shorten, who has thrown his support behind Ms Plibersek and will himself seek to stay on the frontbench, will remain in a caretaker role as leader until a replacement is settled on.
Opposition Treasury spokesman Chris Bowen, who suffered a 6.5 per cent swing against him in his western Sydney seat of McMahon, was being encouraged to run as a candidate of the NSW Right.
Following a defeat that has left the ALP and the union movement in shock, Mr Shorten said yesterday he lost “because we didn’t get enough votes”.
Malcolm Turnbull called Mr Morrison yesterday to congratulate him.
The Prime Minister also took calls from US President Donald Trump and Vice-President Mike Pence, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, British Prime Minister Theresa May and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
French President Emmanuel Macron also invited Mr Morrison to attend this year’s G7 world leaders’ conference.
This would be the first time Australia had participated as an observer country to a forum made up of France, Britain, Germany, Italy, Japan, Canada and the US.
Mr Morrison said he would also be receiving `critical briefings from security agencies today, having been kept updated during the campaign on escalating tensions in the Middle East between the US and Iran.
He told The Australian that laws to impose temporary-exclusion orders to prevent foreign fighters from returning to Australia, which Labor had stalled, would be another legislative priority.
He would also seek to honour a commitment to reverse the refugee medical evacuation laws introduced in March by Labor, the Greens and the independents.
The Coalition would also return to outstanding industrial relations and superannuation legislation that had been blocked by Labor.
“We have a lot to do,” Mr Morrison said. “That said, you have to respect the process and run its course.
“We are just going to get on with it. That’s what (Australians) expect us to do and that is what we will do.
Mr Morrison said the election result came down to the final week of campaigning.
He believed that his $500 million first-home buyer policy helped swing things in his favour.
“The election came down to the last week … talking to the aspiration of Australians … and there is no better demonstration of that than home ownership,” he said.
“This idea that all these people were waiting to be helped by Bill Shorten and Tanya Plibersek, that they were not confident enough to help themselves … this was my argument, the aspirations of Australians was at stake.
“This is why I described it as a victory for the quiet Australians. The idea that says give us your money and we will run the economy … that was rejected thankfully.”
He said Australians “don’t think we need to hold someone down for someone else to succeed. And the community doesn’t look at it like that.”
Mr Morrison said he had spoken to the independents, including Zali Steggall who engineered the unseating of Tony Abbott, in the event that the Coalition might fall short of a majority and be forced into minority government.
He said there would be no big changes to the cabinet, which would be addressed when the final result became clearer at the end of the week.
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