Labor set to be the majority in government
Share
As vote counting continues, Labor appears set to govern with a majority in parliament. However, it would seem that Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has already secured the confidence of five crossbenchers.
Official voting figures show Labor holding 75 seats in the 151-seat House of Representatives, which is expected to sit for the first time in late June or early July.
Meanwhile, the Liberal-National coalition has 59 seats with the vote count continuing after Saturday’s election.
Six of the seats have candidates within 1000 votes of each other, while a further six are awaiting the electoral commission to calculate a two-candidate preferred position.
The new Prime Minister, who was sworn in alongside four senior ministers on Monday, said he had confirmed Rebekha Sharkie, Bob Katter, Zali Steggall, Andrew Wilkie and Helen Haines would not support a no-confidence motion in parliament.
This gives the Prime Minister a confidence buffer in case Labor falls short of a majority when the counting concludes.
The Prime Minister will also be holding talks with US President Joe Biden, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Tokyo under the banner of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue.
On Monday, the Prime Minister had a 25-minute phone call with his UK counterpart Boris Johnson about support for the trilateral AUKUS security pact and climate change.
Mr Albanese described it as a “friendly and very positive discussion about our strong relationships between our two countries”.
He will head home on Wednesday to start the task of fulfilling his election promises, with the Labor caucus set to meet on May 31 and a new ministry sworn in on June 1.
One promise he will be kept to in earnest is providing universal child care.
Thrive by Five director and former South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill says early learning needs to be top of the new government’s agenda.
Mr Weatherill will be in Canberra on Tuesday with Australian Council of Trade Unions president Michele O’Neil and Chief Executive Women’s former president Sue Morphet to press the issue.
The Liberal Party is in search of a new leader with former Prime Minister Scott Morrison due to step down at a forthcoming partyroom meeting.
A consensus is building around former Defence Minister Peter Dutton to take over the top job, but there could be several contenders for the deputy role.
The Nationals leadership will also be spilled at a partyroom meeting but Barnaby Joyce is widely expected to retain the job.
The Senate result remains undetermined, but the Coalition is on track to hold 30 seats and Labor 25 in the 76-seat chamber from July 1.
Labor will need 14 extra votes in the upper house to pass legislation, relying on the Greens for support.
ABC election analyst Antony Green said he expected One Nation leader Pauline Hanson to retain her Senate seat in Queensland.
With AAP
Eliza is a content producer and editor at Public Spectrum. She is an experienced writer on topics related to the government and to the public, as well as stories that uplift and improve the community.
