Source : the age
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will call Labor MPs to Canberra to start work on their second-term agenda after a stunning election victory that reshapes the federal caucus and triggers moves to determine a new ministry.
Albanese will resume work on Monday in Parliament House in a bid to put a priority on election pledges that include a 20 per cent cut to student debt, a key promise to younger Australians and the first bill to be introduced to the next parliament.
Anthony Albanese enjoys the sweet taste of victory in his electorate on Sunday.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
Labor figures played down the prospect of sweeping changes to federal cabinet but they expect more than a dozen new MPs to change the factional structure that decides the ministry.
The moves come as the Liberal Party reels from the defeat of former leader Peter Dutton and a handful of shadow ministers, with leadership contenders jostling for position in a severely reduced party room.
The formal count on Sunday night highlighted the devastating losses for the Coalition, who are set to fall to fewer than 45 seats in parliament while Labor leaps from 78 to at least 86 seats and probably more.
In a sign of the unpredictable shifts in late counting, independent MP Zoe Daniel was in danger of losing her seat of Goldstein in Melbourne to former Liberal MP Tim Wilson, while the Liberals were on track to lose the seat of Bradfield in Sydney to “teal” candidate Nicolette Boele.
Albanese promised stability during the election campaign and is yet to name a date to convene the caucus when key election contests remain in doubt, but his colleagues acknowledged the tough decisions ahead on forming the ministry.
The prime minister spent Sunday morning at Bar Italia in his electorate of Grayndler in the inner west of Sydney, where he met supporters alongside his partner, Jodie Haydon, and briefly served ice-cream.
“We will be a disciplined, orderly government in our second term, just like we have been in our first,” the prime minister said at the cafe.
“We’ve been given the great honour of serving the Australian people, and we don’t take it for granted and we’ll work hard each and every day.”
Albanese said he had held a “warm” conversation with Dutton on Saturday night when the opposition leader called him to concede defeat.
“It’s a tough business, politics, there’s no doubt about that, and it would have been a tough night for Peter, but he was generous,” he said.
Albanese spoke to Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape and New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon on Sunday, as well as receiving messages from French President Emmanuel Macron and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney.
He spoke with Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto – amid expectations of a visit to Indonesia at some point – and was scheduled to do so with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Asked by reporters on Sunday when he would go to the US to see US President Donald Trump, he said: “My job’s here to represent Australia’s national interest. The first thing I’ll be doing is going to Canberra.”
The Labor agenda includes a bill to rule out cuts to penalty rates at the Fair Work Commission, an election pledge that antagonised business leaders but will proceed in light of the mandate from voters on Saturday.
With the union movement cheering Labor’s emphatic victory, the government will also prepare the case for a real increase in the minimum wage – another flashpoint with industry over the cost to employers.
The housing agenda includes a $10 billion package of concessional loans and grants to the states to spur the supply of new homes for first-home buyers, but this will not require legislation and will depend on negotiations over the months ahead.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers outlined an agenda for economic reform that includes new laws to make it easier for workers to change jobs without being subject to non-compete clauses in their workplace contracts, freeing up labour.
“I’m looking forward to rolling out the changes we announced on a national regime for occupational licensing, the non-compete clauses change, the competition policy I’m working up with the states,” he said on the ABC’s Insiders program on Sunday morning.
“The best way to think about the difference between our first term and the second term that we won last night: the first term was primarily [about] inflation without forgetting productivity, the second term will be primarily [about] productivity without forgetting inflation.”
Some key election policies, such as the personal tax cuts announced in the federal budget on March 25, are already legislated.
The Senate results will take days to be confirmed but Labor will be forced to rely on support from the Greens or other crossbenchers to pass laws if the Coalition seeks to block the changes.
Labor expects to win at least five more seats in Queensland, including Dutton’s former seat of Dickson – won by Ali France on her third attempt – as well as Bonner, Brisbane, Griffith and Leichhardt. It is also in a solid position to claim victories in Petrie and Forde.
The outcomes propel Labor to at least 86 seats in the lower house, and will give the Queensland MPs a bigger share of the caucus vote on who will be in the ministry.
The caucus will also increase from the addition of one seat in Western Australia – the electorate of Moore – as well as one in South Australia – Sturt.
ACTU secretary Sally McManus called the election result a landslide and said the Coalition had suffered a fatal blow from its messages against, and then in favour of, working from home.
“Dutton was unable to match the prime minister’s policy commitments to address the cost of living,” she said.
“You lose on that issue, you lose the election.”
“Dutton was unable to match the prime minister’s policy commitments to address the cost of living.”
ACTU secretary Sally McManus
Despite regular speculation that Foreign Minister Penny Wong might leave parliament in this term, she has assured people she is staying for the whole term. Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles will retain the defence portfolio, while Trade Minister Don Farrell retains his position given his status as the government’s deputy leader in the Senate.
Labor MPs said there were two main choices for Albanese in renewing the frontbench.
“He could take the path of least resistance and make a couple of changes, or he could flex his muscles as he will never be more powerful than he is now,” one said.
Under the Labor rules, the 30 cabinet and outer ministry posts parcelled out to the Left and Right factions will be determined by the proportion of Left and Right faction MPs elected.
Chalmers did not call for more places for Queenslanders but acknowledged the victories for his state colleagues.
“I think there’s a stronger contingent in a number of states, and so I always think you can never have too many Queenslanders,” he said.
Some major issues that need to be resolved in the next term of parliament include contentious reforms to gambling advertising, stalled nature-positive laws and implementing the promise of universal childcare.
