MELBOURNE: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has become the first Australian prime minister to win a second consecutive three-year term in 21 years.
\nOpposition leader Peter Dutton conceded defeat in Saturday\u2019s election, saying, \u201cWe didn\u2019t do well enough during this campaign, that much is obvious tonight, and I accept full responsibility for that.\u201d
\n\u201cEarlier on, I called the prime minister to congratulate him on his success tonight. It\u2019s a historic occasion for the Labour Party and we recognize that,\u201d he added.
\nThe Australian Electoral Commission\u2019s projections gave Albanese\u2019s ruling center-left Labour Party 70 seats and the conservative opposition coalition 24 seats in the 150-seat House of Representatives, the lower chamber where parties need a majority to form governments. Unaligned minor parties and independent candidates appeared likely to win 13 seats.
\nAustralian Broadcasting Corp. respected election analyst Antony Green predicted Labor would win 76 seats, the coalition 36 and unaligned lawmakers 13. Green said Labor would form a majority or minority government and that the coalition had no hope of forming even a minority government.
\nEnergy policy and inflation have been major issues in the campaign, with both sides agreeing the country faces a cost of living crisis.
\nOpposition leader branded \u2018DOGE-y Dutton\u2019
\nDutton\u2019s conservative Liberal Party blames government waste for fueling inflation and increasing interest rates, and has pledged to ax more than one in five public service jobs to reduce government spending.
\nWhile both say the country should reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, Dutton argues that relying on more nuclear power instead of renewable energy sources such as solar and wind turbines would deliver less expensive electricity.
\nThe ruling center-left Labour Party has branded the opposition leader \u201cDOGE-y Dutton\u201d and accused his party of mimicking US President Donald Trump and his Department of Government Efficiency.
\nLabor argues Dutton\u2019s administration would slash services to pay for its nuclear ambitions.
\n\u201cWe\u2019ve seen the attempt to run American-style politics here of division and pitting Australians against each other and I think that\u2019s not the Australian way,\u201d Albanese said.
\nAlbanese also noted that his government had improved relations with China, which removed a series of official and unofficial trade barriers that had cost Australian exporters 20 billion Australian dollars ($13 billion) a year since Labor came to power in 2022.
\nA cost of living crisis as the country faces generational change
\nThe election is taking place against a backdrop of what both sides of politics describe as a cost of living crisis.
\nFoodbank Australia, the nation\u2019s largest food relief charity, reported 3.4 million households in the country of 27 million people experienced food insecurity last year.
\nThat meant Australians were skipping meals, eating less or worrying about running out of food before they could afford to buy more.
\nThe central bank reduced its benchmark cash interest rate by a quarter percentage point in February to 4.1 percent in an indication that the worst of the financial hardship had passed. The rate is widely expected to be cut again at the bank\u2019s next board meeting on May 20, this time to encourage investment amid the international economic uncertainty generated by Trump\u2019s tariff policies.
\nBoth campaigns have focused on Australia\u2019s changing demographics. The election is the first in Australia in which Baby Boomers, born between born between the end of World War II and 1964, are outnumbered by younger voters.
\nBoth campaigns promised policies to help first-home buyers buy into a property market that is too expensive for many.
\nThe election could produce a minority government
\nGoing into the election, Labor held a narrow majority of 78 seats in a 151-seat House of Representatives. There will be 150 seats in the next parliament due to redistributions.
\nA loss of more than two seats could force Labor to attempt to form a minority government with the support of unaligned lawmakers.
\nThere was a minority government after the 2010 election, and the last one before that was during World War II.
\nThe last time neither party won a majority, it took 17 days after the polls closed before key independent lawmakers announced they would support a Labor administration.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
MELBOURNE: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has become the first Australian prime minister to win a second consecutive three-year term in 21 years. Opposition leader Peter Dutton conceded defeat in Saturday\u2019s election, saying, \u201cWe didn\u2019t do well enough during this campaign, that much is obvious tonight, and I accept full responsibility for that.\u201d \u201cEarlier on, I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":476192,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-476180","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n