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Republican Anthony Albanese has triumphed at the Australian election after he vowed to tackle the cost of living crisis with more public spending.
Mr Albanese has long been a republican who believes the Queen should not be head of state in Australia and previously said the country should hold a national vote on becoming a republic in 2018.
However, the Labor party manifesto did not include any plans for a referendum on republicanism and the party has not announced any plans to do so – meaning the status quo will remain.
Former PM Malcolm Turnbull led a failed republican campaign during a national referendum on the issue in 1999, which was lost after almost 55 per cent of the voting public chose to remain.
There were jubilant scenes at Labor headquarters in Sydney today after the party won for only the fourth time since World War II.
Mr Albanese will become the 31st Prime Minister of Australia by ending the Coalition’s nine years in power in a bloodbath for Scott Morrison.
His victory comes after Labor pledged to spend an extra £4.1billion compared to the coalition over the next four years if it won today’s election.
He said earlier this month: ‘The work of building that better future will start the very next day’.
Releasing his policy costings just two days before today’s election, Albanese said he planned to increase Australia’s debt by £4.1billion – with big spending on childcare, free TAFE (Technical and Further Education), renewable energy and Medicare.
Mr Albanese’s introduced policies for a ‘better future’ from Labor’s manifesto with his stance on housing being the star of the show.
The leader proposed a ‘Help To Buy’ scheme, which would see the government take a 40 per cent stake in up to 10,000 homes a year to help people earning less than £50,000 on to the property ladder.
He pledged to create a £5.6billion Housing Australia Future Fund to build 30,000 new social and affordable housing properties in its first five years – making it easier for young people to get on the property ladder.
Unveiling his health policies earlier this year, the PM said he would create 50 first-aid clinics across the country if he wins the election, which will treat non life threatening injuries such as broken bones, minor burns, cuts and animal stings – and will be open every day between 8am to 10pm.
He has also promised to spend £423million over four years to improve access to GPs including outside business hours.
Republican Anthony Albanese (Pictured) has triumphed at the Australian election after he vowed to tackle the cost of living crisis with more public spending
There were jubilant scenes at Labor headquarters in Sydney today after the party won for only the fourth time since World War II
Albanese will become the 31st Prime Minister of Australia by ending the Coalition’s nine years in power in a bloodbath for Scott Morrison
Albanese has long been a republican who believes the Queen should not be head of state in Australia and previously said the country should hold a national vote on becoming a republic in 2018
Labor’s victory was aided by so called ‘teal independents’ – funded by multi-millionaire Australian climate investor Simon Holmes a Court – who decimated the coalition in Sydney and Melbourne.
In at least five affluent Liberal-held seats, the teal independents looked set to win, tapping voter anger over inaction on climate change after some of the worst floods and fires to hit Australia
A strong showing by the Greens and the teal independents’, who campaigned on policies of integrity, equality and tackling climate change, means 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.
Nationally there was a two-party swing of 2.3 per cent from Liberal to Labor with nine Coalition seats looking set to switch to the ALP, including Chisholm and Higgins in Melbourne, Boothby in South Australia, Reid in Sydney and Robertson on the NSW Central Coast.
There was a significant shift against the Liberals in Western Australia with the seats of Swan, Pearce, Hasluck and Tangney – which had a big 11 per cent margin – turning red.
The independents have won at least three Liberal seats, picking up North Sydney, Mackellar and Goldstein. The Greens have won the Brisbane seat of Ryan from the Liberals, with a two per cent boost in their national vote to 12 per cent.
Over the next four years, Labor’s deficits could add up to an estimated £130.8billon – roughly £2.3bn higher than Mr Morrison’s March budget forecast.
Pictured: Scott Morrison (right) and Jenny Morrison (middle) hug their children after voting at Lilli Pilli Public school in the seat of Cook on Saturday
Labor supporters reacts as they watch the television broadcast during the Labor Party election night event in Sydney
Supporters react to election updates broadcasted on a screen while they wait for Anthony Albanese, leader of Australia’s Labor Party, to speak about the outcome of the country’s general election
Albanese’s win comes after Labor pledged to spend an extra £4.1billion compared to the Coalition over the next four years if it wins power on Saturday
Shadow Treasurer Jim Chalmers said the difference between the Coalition and Labor was ‘modest’ – but said Labor’s investments would deliver returns down the track.
‘The modest $7.4billion difference between the two budgets is made up of key investments in childcare, investments in training and education, and investments in cleaner and cheaper energy,’ he said.
Scott Morrison said: ‘Labor borrowing more, spending more, it puts pressure on interest rates. It puts pressure on inflation. It drives up the cost of living.
‘You can vote for the Liberal-National Party team, vote for a strong economy and avoid the risk of a weaker one under a Labor Party that can’t manage money.’
Labor’s costing document also showed £10.6billion in new spending offset by £6.4billion in savings.
There are 13 cost-cutting measures including abolishing the regionalisation grant program.
Labor’s victory was aided by so called ‘teal independents’ – funded by multi-millionaire Australian climate investor Simon Holmes a Court – who decimated the coalition in Sydney and Melbourne
Nationally there was a two-party swing of 2.3 per cent from Liberal to Labor. Pictured: Labor headquarters in Sydney
Hundreds of Labor supporters cheered as the results looked good for the ALP in the early hours of the morning
Supporters celebrate as initial results come in for WA at the election party for Zaneta Mascarenhas, Labor candidate for Swan, Australia
Queensland Greens Senator Larissa Waters (left) and Senate candidate Penny Allman-Payne react to favourable election results earlier in the evening
Defence minister Peter Dutton casts his vote in his electorate of Dickson in Brisbane on Saturday afternoon
The ALP also claims it will save £225.6million by scrapping temporary protection visas and letting thousands of refugees stay permanently.
Mr Morrison blasted this policy, saying it would encourage more refugees to arrive illegally by boat.
‘Kevin Rudd thought that work too. And when he abolished temporary visas in August of 2008, what followed was 800 boats, 1200 lives lost and 50,000 people illegally entering Australia. The cost of that was £9.5 billion,’ Mr Morrison said.
‘They (Labor) an no more manage the borders than they can manage money.’
The ALP’s costings do not account for another £29billion in off-budget spending.
This includes £5.6billion on social housing, £8billion on manufacturing and £11.2billion on upgrading the electricity grid.
Albanese said the extra spending would not stoke inflation – which hit 5.1 per cent in April.
‘What it will do is produce a return. It produces economic activity,’ he said.
Labor will provide 465,000 free TAFE places and 20,000 extra university places under a £1.2billion plan.
The free TAFE places will be for courses in industries with a skills shortages such as trades and construction, resources, digital and cyber security, new energy and advanced manufacturing.
One of Labor’s most significant policies is to increase childcare subsidies for all families earning less than £530,000 – at a cost of more than £1billion over four years.
Mr Albanese would remove a cap that prevents families earning more than £10,6819 from receiving more than £5956 a year in subsidies.
A family on £10,681 that uses childcare five days a week would instead get £12,187 in subsidies, more than double the current allowance.
Former Labor Minister and power broker Graham ‘Richo’ Richardson called the election result early as a win for Labor following swings to the ALP in the Liberal-held seats of Reid and Bennelong.
‘We’re home,’ he said on Sky just before 7pm. ‘Let’s crack the champagne.’
How Anthony Albanese could became Australia’s first prime minister who’s separated ??
Anthony Albanese has made history as Australia’s first ever prime minister to have separated from his wife after a marriage breakdown.
Since the introduction of no-fault divorce in 1975, Oppositions in Australia have lost eight elections with a divorced and remarried leader, even as the US and the UK elected leaders who had gone through a separation.
Albanese’s estranged wife Carmel Tebbutt, a former deputy premier of New South Wales, announced their separation in January 2019 after almost 19 years of marriage.
Should he win on Saturday, Anthony Albanese would make history as Australia’s first ever prime minister to have either divorced or separated after a marriage breakdown (the Labor leader is pictured centre with son Nathan and girlfriend Jodie Haydon)
The couple had met in NSW Young Labor during the late 1980s.
The potential future prime minister later said he ‘didn’t see it coming’ when Ms Tebbutt abruptly ended their marriage on New Year’s Day in 2019
‘I found it very tough. The relationship was 30 years old,’ he told ABC Radio in 2022.
Mr Albanese said the couple’s only child, their son Nathan, had just completed his HSC exams and turned 18 when Ms Tebbutt dumped him.
‘It’s made for a difficult period. I certainly will always, always remember New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day for that momentous event in my life,’ he said.
‘I think part of going through a difficult period and coming out the other end is acknowledging that you’re going through it. I found it very tough. The relationship was 30 years old.’
Mr Albanese, 59, has since moved on with First State Super financial worker Jodie Haydon, 43, who is 16 years his junior.
The pair were first spotted kissing at an upmarket Sydney restaurant in June 2020.
He has maintained a strong relationship with his son who was just 18 when his parents became divorced.
In March 2019 Mr Albanese took three weeks off and visited London and Portugal – a trip he credits for helping him heal after the break up.
‘I needed to stop trying to understand it and just accept it and accept that it was a decision that had been made and she was moving on with her life in a different direction and I needed to do the same,’ he said.
Should Albanese prevail on Saturday, he would also be Australia’s seventh Catholic PM (he is pictured with his girlfriend Jodie Haydon)
‘You can tie yourself in knots trying to understand someone else’s decisions and thought processes.’
In March 2020, he attended a dinner event in Melbourne where he met his future partner Ms Haydon.
The avid South Sydney Rabbitohs NRL supporter said he took to the stage and addressed the guests.
‘I said there’s always a random Souths supporter in the room and she yelled out ‘yep, me. Go the rabbits’,’ he said.
Mr Albanese said he was making his way around the function introducing himself to other guests when he met Ms Haydon.
‘It turned out she lives in the inner west of Sydney and we had a fair bit in common,’ he said.
‘She suggested we might like to catch up so we caught up for a beer basically and we found that we got on pretty well.
‘We caught up for a beer a few weeks later and things went from there. It’s nice to have someone to spend time with.’
Mr Albanese said he was ‘protective’ of their relationship.
‘I’m the one running for public office,’ he said.
‘Jodie has to put up with…if we’re out having dinner, put up with people coming up and photos and all of that. But it’s part of the deal, it’s part of who I am.’
Ms Haydon has more than 20 years experience in the finance industry, her LinkedIn profile said.
She lives on the New South Wales Central Coast and comes from a family of teachers – with both parents and grandparents teaching in the classroom.
The US has had divorced and remarried presidents, in Republicans Ronald Reagan and Donald Trump, while the UK has Boris Johnson, a Tory PM with a colourful love life.
Albanese’s estranged wife Carmel Tebbutt, a former deputy premier of New South Wales, announced their separation in January 2019 after almost 19 years of marriage (she is pictured looking after the federal Labor leader’s cavoodle in Sydney as he campaigns in Perth)
But since Gough Whitlam’s Labor government introduced no-fault divorce in 1975, Liberal and Labor Oppositions have lost eight elections with a divorced and remarried leader.
The losers have included on the Liberal side Andrew Peacock (1984 and 1990) and John Hewson (1993), and on the Labor side Kim Beazley (1998 and 2001), Mark Latham (2004) and Bill Shorten (2016 and 2019).
Labor PMs Bob Hawke and Paul Keating divorced after leaving office.
Only one prime minister had never married, Australia’s only female PM Julia Gillard from Labor who led Australia from 2010 to 2013.
John McEwen, who briefly served as Country Party PM following the drowning of Harold Holt in December 1967, was Australia’s only leader to have been a widower in office.
Billy Hughes married a second time in 1911, five years after the death of his first wife and four years before he became the pro-conscription Labor and later Nationalist prime minister, from 1915 to 1923.
If the opinion polls are proven right, Albanese would be the first PM since Federation without an Anglo or Irish surname.
The 59-year-old Labor leader takes his surname from his late Italian father Carlo who had met his mother Maryanne on a cruise ship.
The would-be future PM was raised by his single mother in public housing in Sydney’s now gentrified inner west.
Albanese would also be Australia’s seventh Catholic PM, declaring this as one of his three key faiths along with the South Sydney Rabbitohs and the Australian Labor Party.
This would be occurring 93 years after Australia elected its first Catholic leader, James Scullin, in October 1929 just before the Wall Street crash and the Great Depression.
Should Labor win on Saturday, Albanese would become Australia’s 31st prime minister with an Italian surname. The Labor leader takes his surname from his Italian father Carlo, who met his mother Maryanne met on a cruise ship in 1962 (he is pictured with his late father, far right, in 2011 with his then wife Carmel Tebbutt and son Nathan
The new separated couple had met in NSW Young Labor during the late 1980s, when Albanese’s Left faction still controlled the party’s young wing (they are pictured at the Parliament House Mid Winter Ball
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