Australian Voters Give Albanese Second Term

Canberra, Australia —(Map)

On Saturday, Australians re-elected Anthony Albanese as their prime minister. Mr. Albanese’s Labor Party won the election easily, beating the Liberal/National Coalition. This is the first time in over 20 years that an Australian prime minister has been elected for a second time.

The election results came as a surprise to many people. Two months ago, Mr. Albanese was behind in the polls. But over the last month or so, he has been steadily pulling ahead. In the last week before the election, polls showed Mr. Albanese with a lead of about 3% to 5%.

Mr. Albanese’s Labor Party did extremely well. To form a government, Labor needed 76 seats in the House of Representatives – the lower house of Australia’s Parliament. But the Labor Party came away with at least 85 seats. Labor is likely to end up with even more seats, since the results of some races are not yet final.

On Saturday, Australians re-elected Anthony Albanese as their prime minister. Mr. Albanese’s Labor Party won the election easily. It’s the first time in over 20 years that an Australian prime minister has been elected for a second time. Above, Mr. Albanese (shown with his partner and son) waves to supporters on Saturday night.

The results for Labor’s main opponent, the Liberal/National Coalition, were terrible. The Liberals lost around 19 seats. Even the leader of the Liberal Party, Peter Dutton, lost the seat that he had held for 20 years.

During his campaign, Mr. Dutton made a number of mistakes that hurt his chances. But many people believe that Mr. Dutton’s strong connection with US President Donald Trump hurt him the most.

Mr. Trump’s actions and harsh comments have upset many people worldwide. That’s also true in Australia, which has recently been hit by Mr. Trump’s tariffs. Mr. Dutton and members of his party tried to imitate some of Mr. Trump’s ideas and actions. The election results suggest that Australian voters didn’t like that.

The results for Labor’s main opponent, the Liberal/National Coalition, were terrible. The Liberals lost around 19 seats. Even the leader of the Liberal Party, Peter Dutton, lost the seat that he had held for 20 years. Above, Mr. Dutton speaks to supporters on Saturday night while surrounded by his family.

In his victory speech, Mr. Albanese didn’t mention Mr. Trump, but he made it clear that he has no plans to imitate him. “We do not need to beg or borrow or copy from anywhere else,” said Mr. Albanese. He said Australians don’t look to other countries for new ideas. “We find it right here in our values and in our people.”

But even though Mr. Albanese won the election, he still has some big challenges ahead. The cost of living has continued to rise in Australia, and many voters want Mr. Albanese to do more to bring down prices. There is also a shortage of low-cost homes in Australia.

Mr. Albanese says he hopes to save people money by cutting taxes and making medicine cheaper through the country’s free health care system. He also has a plan to build 1.2 million new houses. Mr. Albanese also plans to continue cutting Australia’s pollution and tackling the climate crisis. 

One of the biggest challenges for Mr. Albanese will be managing the growing tensions between the US and China. Australia has a strong military connection to its ally, the US. But China is also extremely important to Australia as a place to sell its products. Australia doesn’t want to upset either country.

In his speech on Saturday night, Mr. Albanese made an effort to include even those who had voted against him. “We are all Australians,” he said.