Key events
Dan Jervis-Bardy
It always slips under the radar on election night but the Senate results are crucial to how the next parliament functions.
As we sift through the results, it looks like another huge result for Labor while the Nationals deputy leader is poised to lose their seat.
Here’s the state of play in each state and territory according to the ABC count.
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In NSW, Labor is on track to win three seats. The Coalition is polling just under two quotas, which will likely cost the Nationals’ deputy leader, Perin Davey, her spot in the upper house.
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In Victoria, Labor could also snare three spots, including one for Michelle Ananda-Rajah, who ran for the senate after her Melbourne seat of Higgins was abolished.
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Labor could also pick up three seats in each of WA and South Australia. A sharp drop in the Liberal vote in SA is poised to cost senator David Fawcett his seat.
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In Queensland, Labor and the Coalition are set to win a couple of seats each with Greens and One Nation poised to retain their spots.
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A similar scenario is unfolding in Tasmania. Labor will win two seats while the Liberals are set to retain their two spots despite a massive swing against the party in the Apple Isle. The Greens will hold their seat while Jacqui Lambie is ahead in the race for the fifth spot.
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It is status-quo in the ACT, although independent David Pocock has been elected ahead of the Labor finance minister, Katy Gallagher.
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Labor and the Country Liberals are set to win one seat each in the NT.
So, what does it all mean?
If Labor wins all of the seats in which it is ahead in the count it could end up with 30 upper house seats – nine short of absolute majority.
That would mean Labor would only need the support of the Greens to pass legislation which the Coalition opposes, allowing it to bypass crossbenchers such as Pocock and Lambie.
Chalmers says “there can never been too many Queenslanders” noting the number of new Labor MPs who will join the party in parliament, and particularly the large number of women.
Previously, Chalmers said, Anika Wells had been a lone voice from the state but will now be joined by seven.
We’ve been long on influence but short on numbers. I’m a Queenslander, and I think that most the Cabinet should be Queenslanders – that’s just how we’re born and raised.
Meanwhile, Chalmers says Anthony Albanese is now a Labor hero and that he expects the Prime Minister to serve a full term and run again.
Chalmers lays out the government’s agenda going forward saying it’s about more homes, energy transition and AI.
We have to build more homes. We’ve got to get this energy transformation right. We’ve got to do more to embrace technology, particularly the AI opportunity. There’s a huge agenda there for us. And what our agenda boils down to is obviously weathering and withstanding this global economic uncertainty in the near-term, but also making sure that we make the Australian people the primary beneficiaries of all of this churn and change that we’re seeing in the world.
He adds that the geopolitical clash between China and the US will “cast a dark shadow over the global economy”.
But we’re really well-placed. We are quite well-prepared because of the progress that Australia’s made over the course of the last three years. So we go in that with a sense of – you know, we’re realistic about how this could play out in the world, but we’re optimistic about Australia’s place in that.
Asked whether the win will empower the Albanese government to be more ambitious, to do things that may not necessarily be political popular, Chalmers says he considers the result a vote of confidence in the leadership of Anthony Albanese.
There was a real kind of darkness at the heart of the Coalition campaign, this kind of backward-looking pessimism which Australians rejected. And in rejecting that, I think they embraced the kind of leadership that Anthony Albanese provides, which is practical, pragmatic, it’s problem-solving, and it’s very forward-looking. And that’s the approach that we’ll take.
Chalmers says the re-elected Albanese is an “ambitious government” that is “looking forward to implementing the agenda we took to the election”, but added that the senate remains fracturing meaning negotiation will be required to pass legislation.
The Treasurer says the government will give a structural budget deficit its “ongoing attention”.
The way that Katy Gallagher and I see that challenge is as an ongoing challenge, including in a structural sense, where we have made progress in aged care, the NDIS, and interest costs. But, clearly, that will warrant ongoing attention.
Labor’s federal election win was beyond the party’s “most optimistic expectations”, Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers says.
Speaking to ABC Insiders host David Speers, Chalmers described the victory as “one for the ages” but added that it “does come with, as well, with health helpings of humility.”
We know that there are a lot of challenges to address in our economy and more broadly. We know that people are under pressure. We know the global environment is uncertain.
And we know that this second term has been given to us by the Australian people because they want stability in uncertain times, but not because they think we’ve solved every challenge in our economy or in our society more broadly, but because we’re better-placed to work towards solving some of those challenges.
So there is an element of humility. And there’s a lot of gratitude to the Australian people.
The result in the Tasmanian seat of Franklin is a “wake-up call” for Labor on the future of salmon-farming, the independent challenger says.
Former journalist Peter George ran in the seat campaigning to halt the expansion of salmon farming in the region – a hot-button issue for communities in Tasmania.
George says he topped the polls in areas most impacted by salmon pollution, including Alonnah (South Bruny), Cradoc, Cygnet, Kettering, Middleton, North Bruny, Sandford, South Arm and Woodbridge.
He blamed the decision by the Liberals not to preference George resulted in the re-election of Labor’s Julie Collins.
George:
I am so glad I stood for cleaning up our marine and coastal environments.
It gave thousands of affected people a voice. It is a voice that will only get louder as the squalor of Atlantic salmon farms spreads.
Julie Collins, the fisheries minister, survived this time but she won’t next unless she stands up for our waterways and gets rid of the feedlots.
If this isn’t a wake-up call to Labor and Liberal at Federal and State levels, they will pay the price for kowtowing to the multinationals that own the industry and destroy our waterways.
Liberal senator says road back starts with ‘deeper understanding of modern Australia’
Tom McIlroy
Liberal moderate and re-elected New South Wales senator Andrew Bragg says his heart goes out to unsuccessful party colleagues after last night’s electoral drubbing.
Writing on social media, the shadow assistant minister for home ownership offered thanks to outgoing opposition leader Peter Dutton.
He said Australia was “drifting” under Labor and needed better leadership.
Bragg said the Liberal party’s recovery starts with a “deeper understanding” of modern Australia.
It was the toughest night for the Liberals ever.
The message from the electorate is clear. For the Liberal party, the road back starts with a deeper understanding of modern Australia.
We must offer an ambitious economic agenda and a centrist, inclusive social vision. Reclaiming enterprise and the centre is not a departure from our values – it is a return to them.
Greens on track to lose several MPs as independents hold off challenges and gain votes in federal election
Voters have dealt a significant blow to the Greens, with the minor party on track to lose several MPs – including potentially its party leader, Adam Bandt – and fall short in other electorates that it had hoped to win from Labor, while several teal independents retained their seats with improved margins and others are on track to win seats previously held by the Coalition.
At the Greens’ election night function in Melbourne, the party faithful had largely tuned out of the election results broadcast, as early results predicted Max Chandler-Mather and Stephen Bates would lose their respective seats of Griffith and Brisbane to Labor.
And in the Brisbane seat of Ryan, the future of Elizabeth Watson-Brown – who, with Chandler-Mather and Bates, won their seats for the Greens for the first time at the 2022 election – was unclear, with early results on a knife-edge.
While Watson-Brown was leading the Liberal candidate on a two-candidate count, with about 50% of the votes counted, preference flows would be key to determining the outcome.
In Melbourne – the seat held by Bandt since 2010 – early results indicated a tight race.
There was little separating Bandt from Labor’s Sarah Witty, with just under 60% of the vote counted. Projections indicated he was at risk of losing the seat depending on preference flows.
For more on this report, read the full story by Guardian Australia’s Elias Visontay:
An association representing landlords in Victoria is celebrating the loss of Max Chandler-Mather’s Greens seat of Griffith.
In a series of posts to social media, Victorian Landlords highlighted Chandler-Mather’s advocacy for policies in support of renters, particularly calls for a “rent freeze”, saying it failed to find electoral support.
Good luck next time!
Farrell on Albanese’s win: ‘He was looking forward, whereas the Liberals were looking backwards’
Dan Jervis-Bardy
The trade minister, Don Farrell, is up next on Sky.
Farrell reveals he “said a little prayer” for Albanese while he was in the Vatican for the funeral of Pope Francis.
There’s only one person that we can congratulate for [the result] – and that’s prime minister Anthony Albanese. He’s run a flawless campaign, a very disciplined campaign.
Farrell said even Labor’s internal polling didn’t point to such an emphatic win.
I think when those people looked at the two options, prime minister Albanese and Mr Dutton, they saw that the prime minister had a vision for this country.
He was looking forward, whereas the Liberals were looking backwards. And I think people have accepted that we need to look forward.
Farrell is asked if a trip to Washington – and a potential face-to-face meeting with Donald Trump – would be a priority for the reelected prime minister.
It would be entirely up to the prime minister. I don’t set his travel schedule, and that would be a matter for him.
CPA Australia urges Albanese to create ‘more business-friendly environment’
CPA Australia, the industry body representing accountants, is out early in the wake of the election result calling for the re-elected Albanese government to double down on trying to improve “business productivity”.
CPA Australia CEO Chris Freeland said he looked forward to a “clear and optimistic visions” from the government to “promote growth through reduced regulatory pressure”.
Freeland wanted the government to consult more closely with business to remove “regulatory burdens”, reduce bracket creep and Australia’s “dependence” on personal income tax, and greater austerity to “bring the deficit under greater control”.
The accounting profession has a unique insight into the practical challenges created by our government policy, including our tax regime and a culture of red tape. We look forward to working with the government to create a more business-friendly environment that delivers economic prosperity and benefits to Australia.
We encourage the Albanese government to commit to long-term plans that look beyond the next three years and deliver improvements to the lives of Australians – not just today but long into the future.
