Australian PM Anthony wins second 3-year term
- 10 hours ago
Anthony Albanese claimed victory as the first Australian prime minister to clinch a second consecutive term in 21 years on Saturday and suggested his government had increased its majority by not modeling itself on US President Donald Trump's administration.
"Australians have chosen to face global challenges the Australian way, looking after each other while building for the future," Albanese told supporters in a victory speech in Sydney.
"We do not need to beg or borrow or copy from anywhere else. We do not seek our inspiration overseas. We find it right here in our values and in our people," he added. His center-left Labour Party had branded Albanese's rival Peter Dutton, the opposition leader, "DOGE-y Dutton" and accused his conservative Liberal Party of mimicking Trump and his Department of Government Efficiency.
Dutton had earlier conceded his alliance of conservative parties had been defeated at the election and that he had lost his own parliamentary seat that he had held for 24 years.
Dutton's plight parallels that of Canada's last opposition leader, Pierre Poilievre, who lost his seat after Trump declared economic war on the U.S. neighbor to the north.
Poilievre had previously been regarded as a shoo-in to become Canada's next prime minister and shepherd his Conservative Party back into power for the first time in a decade. Analysts argue that mirroring Trump switched from a political positive for Australian conservatives to a negative after Trump imposed global tariffs.
Labour had held a narrow majority of 78 seats in the 151-seat house House of Representatives, the lower chamber where parties form governments. Australian governments are usually elected for at least a second term, but are expected to lose seats at the second election. But Labor is on track to increase its majority in its second term.
Millions of Australians chose between Albanese, 62, and his conservative challenger Peter Dutton.
Hungry voters munched on barbecued "democracy sausages" after casting their ballot -- a polling day rite of passage -- while others in bright swimwear crammed into booths after taking an early morning plunge.
US President Donald Trump has loomed over the vote since its earliest days, and there is keen global interest in whether his tariff-induced economic chaos will influence the result.
"The holy grail is back-to-back wins that we're aiming for today," Albanese told Channel Seven.
"I'll leave nothing on the field over the next three years if I'm re-elected as Australia's prime minister."
Though trailing by a few percentage points in the polls, Dutton said "quiet Australians" could yet deliver a surprise.
"I think they're going to go into the polling booth and say: 'You know what? I am not going to reward Anthony Albanese for the last three years'," he told Channel Nine.
'Mad as a cut snake'
Before the first vote was even counted, speculation was already mounting over whether Dutton could survive an election loss.
"I am 54. I am still very young, and I've just got a burning passion for this country," Dutton replied, when asked if he would stay on as opposition leader.
The first polls opened at 8:00 am (2200 GMT) on Australia's east coast, followed later by the country's western cities and far-flung island territories.
A total of 18.1 million voters have enrolled for the election. About half of them cast an early ballot, the election authority said.
Voting is compulsory, enforced with fines of Aus$20 (US$13), leading to turnouts that top 90 percent.
Albanese has promised to embrace renewable energy, tackle a worsening housing crisis, and pour money into a creaking healthcare system.
Liberal Party leader and former police officer Dutton wanted to slash immigration, crack down on crime and ditch a longstanding ban on nuclear power.
Some polls showed Dutton leaking support because of Trump, who he praised this year as a "big thinker" with "gravitas" on the global stage.
"I mean, Donald Trump is as mad as a cut snake, and we all know that," said voter Alan Whitman, 59, before casting his ballot on Saturday.
"And we've got to tiptoe around that."
High prices
As Australians soured on Trump, both Dutton and Albanese took on a more pugnacious tone.
"If I needed to have a fight with Donald Trump or any other world leader, to advance our nation's interest, I'd do it in a heartbeat," Dutton said in April.
Albanese condemned Trump's tariffs as an act of "economic self-harm" and "not the act of a friend".
Economic concerns have dominated the contest for the many Australian households struggling to pay inflated prices for milk, bread, power and petrol.
"The cost of living -- it's extremely high at the moment. So, taxes as well, is also another really big thing. Petrol prices, all the basic stuff," human resources manager Robyn Knox told AFP in Brisbane.
Small business owner Jared Bell had similar concerns.
"Our grocery shops are definitely way more expensive than they were a couple years ago," he said.
Campaign stumbles
Coal-mining superpower Australia will choose between two leaders with sharply contrasting ideas on climate change and emissions reduction.
Albanese's government has embraced the global push towards decarbonisation, warning of a future in which iron ore and polluting coal exports no longer prop up the economy.
Dutton's signature policy was a US$200 billion scheme to construct seven industrial-scale nuclear reactors, doing away with the need to ramp up renewables.
The 36-day campaign was a largely staid affair but there were a few moments of unscripted levity.
Albanese tumbled backwards off the stage at a heaving campaign rally, while Dutton drew blood when he hit an unsuspecting cameraman in the head with a stray football.
Agence France-Presse