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Anthony Albanese sworn in as Australia’s 31st Prime Minister
Labor Party Leader Anthony Albanese is Australia’s new prime minister, marking the end of almost a decade’s rule for the conservative coalition
In a ceremony at Government House in Canberra, Albanese took an oath to “well and truly serve the Commonwealth of Australia”.
It was all officiated by Governor-General David Hurley, with MP Richard Marles sworn in as deputy PM and senator Penny Wong becoming foreign minister.
The appointment of Wong marks the first occasion a person born outside of Australia has held the role.
It comes just hours before Albanese and his delegation will travel to Tokyo for an international leaders’ summit.
The rest of the ministry will be sworn in when the prime minister returns from the high-stakes talks.
Outgoing Prime Minister Scott Morrison conceded defeat on Saturday night and said he would also be stepping down as leader of his centre-right Liberal Party.
“I’ve always believed in Australians and their judgement and I’ve always been prepared to accept their verdicts and tonight they have delivered their verdict and I congratulate Anthony Albanese.”
Former australian pm, scott morrison
Partial election results showed independents gaining seats in the lower chamber of parliament.
The so-called “teal independents” with mostly women, who campaigned for more action on climate change, integrity and gender equality toppled the Liberal party in several urban strongholds.
And a strong showing from the left-wing Greens Party ate into Labor’s vote share in many seats.
The makeup of the new parliament looks set to be much less climate-sceptic than the one that supported Morrison’s pro-coal mining administration.
At Sydney’s popular Bondi beach, Australians were upbeat about action on climate change under the country’s new leadership:
“Lovely to see the independents, I think. Real change and a step forward for the environment.”
“If we can get action on climate change, then that’s going to be quite exciting.”
It’s still unclear whether the Labor party will govern with a majority or with the help of some independents or Greens.
Labor is still several seats short of winning more than half the seats in the lower house, with about a dozen electorates deemed too close to call.
Official results could be several days away, with the counting of a record 2.7 million postal votes to begin Sunday afternoon.
