CANBERRA, Australia (Washington Insider Magazine) – Early Monday, Australia’s new prime minister got sworn in and traveled to Tokyo for a meeting with President Joe Biden, as the counting process continued to decide if he will command a significant majority in a Parliament which is demanding greater action against climate change.
During Saturday’s election, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s center-left Labor Party defeated Scott Morrison’s conservative coalition. According to ABC NEWS, the coalition had already been in power for 9 years under 3 prime ministers.
“I want to lead a government that has the same sense of optimism and hope that I think defines the Australian people,” Albanese stated in Sydney before traveling to Canberra for his inauguration.
Albanese, who calls himself Australia’s 1st non-Anglo Celtic prime minister, and Malaysian-born Penny Wong, Australia’s 1st foreign minister, had been sworn in by Governor-General David Hurley before flying to Tokyo on Tuesday for a security summit with Biden, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.
According to the White House, Biden called Albanese to congratulate him on his electoral win and underlined the president’s desire to strengthen the countries’ cooperation.
Albanese regarded their chat as fruitful and positive.
Hurley, who claims to represent Australia’s head of state, British monarch Queen Elizabeth II, was able to elect Morrison’s successor without proof that Albanese could govern the majority in parliament’s lower chamber, where governments are formed, due to Morrison’s decision to step down as prime minister during initial vote counting.
While Albanese is in Japan, Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles has been sworn into office. Jim Chalmers and Katy Gallagher were also sworn in as ministers of economics.
Labor appeared to have secured 75 seats, one less of the 151-seat House of Representatives majority required to establish an administration. According to the Australian Electoral Commission, the conservative alliance was on course to win 58 seats, unaligned Politicians six, and 12 seats were all too close to call.
Albanese claimed that if Labor fails to form a majority government, he has the backing of 5 independent members.
A motion of no confidence in Labor in the House might end in the conservative Liberal Party putting together a minority government, which is improbable. If neither party is able to administer, another election will be convened, something which has never transpired in Australia’s 121-year history.
In Saturday’s election, Australia’s 2 major political parties, the Liberal Party and the Labor Party, lost support to independents and minor parties, furthering a trend of discontent with the political system.
Terri Butler, who may have become the new administration’s environment minister, was replaced by Max Chandler-Mather of the environment-focused Greens, who now have at least 3 seats in the house, up from 2 in the previous parliament.
Previous New South Wales state premier Kristina Keneally’s quest to go from the Senate to the House of Representatives in what has been thought to be a secure Labor seat in Sydney was beaten by Dai Le, a Vietnamese-born independent who became the 1st refugee ever elected to parliament.
From 2010 until its electoral defeat in 2013, Greens head Adam Bandt backed a Labor minority administration and was willing to work with Albanese again.
Throughout those 3 years, Albanese served as the government’s principal negotiator with external allies in the House, and he was acclaimed for his collaborative approach.
Teal independents, greener equivalents of the Liberal Party’s blue tint, helped the previous conservative government lose 6 typically secure seats.
The teals seek a more aggressive goal than Labor’s pledge to cut carbon emissions by 43% under 2005 levels by the conclusion of the decade. The previous administration had maintained the same promise established at the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement: 26 percent to 28 percent below 2005 emissions by 2030.
The Green Party’s 2030 aim is 75%.
