Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has formally claimed victory in the Australian election, making clear his Australian Labor Party would rule in its own right.
At the time of writing and as voting continued, Labor held a commanding lead with 82 of the 151 seats in the House of Representatives, an increase of five seats from the 2022 election, ahead of the Liberal/National Party with 38 seats, a drop of 20 seats.
Albanese, who entered the Parliament 29 years ago, easily retained his inner-Sydney seat of Grayndler.
“My fellow Australians, serving as your Prime Minister is the greatest honour of my life,” he told cheering Labor supporters at an event in Sydney.
“And it is with a deep sense of humility and a profound sense of responsibility that the first thing I do tonight is to say thank you to the people of Australia for the chance to continue to serve the best nation on earth.
“Today the Australian people have voted for Australian values, for fairness, aspiration and opportunity for all, for the strength to show courage and adversity and kindness to those in need.
“And Australians have voted for a future that holds true to these values, a future built on everything that brings us together as Australians and everything that sets our nation apart from the world.
“In this time of global uncertainty, Australians have chosen optimism and determination.
“Australians have chosen to face global challenges the Australian way, looking after each other while building for the future and to serve these values, meet these challenges, seize these opportunities and build that better and stronger future, Australians have chosen a majority Labor Government.”
Albanese said he earlier thanked Opposition Leader Peter Dutton, who had conceded defeat.
Dutton, who lost his Queensland seat of Dickson after 24 years, said: “We didn’t do well enough through this campaign, that much is obvious tonight, and I accept full responsibility for that.
“Earlier on I called the Prime Minister and congratulated him on his success tonight. It’s an historic occasion for the Labor Party and we recognise that. He should be very proud of what he’s achieved.”
At the time of writing, 85.24% of polling places had counted first preferences and 75.91% of polling places had counted votes on a two candidate preferred (TCP) basis.
