LABOR IN POLL MAJORITY; GREENS SURGE
Labor set to seize power as Liberal seats tumble
Federal Labor is poised to win majority government in Australia, ousting the Coalition after almost nine years.
Labor is likely to end up with 76 or 77 seats in the 151-member House of Representatives, as the Liberal Party stands to lose up to 20 seats to a raft of Labor, independent and Greens candidates.
Incoming Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was sworn in on May 23, joined by four senior frontbenchers in an interim Cabinet.
With a slight majority, the new PM will be spared from needing to do deals from a large crossbench, inflated by seven so-called teal candidates who snatched once-safe Liberal seats in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth.
Meanwhile, the Coalition will hold less than 60 seats amid a crowded crossbench likely to constitute up to 16 independents, minor parties and Greens.
A potential 2.7 million postal votes will be counted this week by the Australian Electoral Commission, deciding a raft of close and undecided seats.
Interim Cabinet holds the reins
A full Cabinet will be chosen after Anthony Albanese returns from the four-nation Quad leaders’ talks in Japan this week.
In the meantime, Richard Marles has been sworn in as the Minister for Employment and as Deputy Prime Minister; Labor Senate Leader Penny Wong as Minister for Foreign Affairs; Jim Chalmers as Treasurer; and Senator Katy Gallagher as Minister for Finance.
As outlined by Lunik last month, Labor’s incoming Cabinet will contain plenty of previous ministerial talent from the Rudd-Gillard ministries of 2007-2013.
There will be changes to the shadow ministry that fought the May 21 election. The Home Affairs and Environment portfolios will need to be reallocated after NSW frontbencher Kristina Keneally and Brisbane MP Terri Butler lost their seats.
Greens surge in Senate
Labor’s win in the House of Representatives has not translated to a dominant performance in the Senate.
With less than 33 per cent of the primary vote in the Lower House, Labor’s numbers in the Senate are unlikely to rise much more than its current 25, out of the 76-seat Upper House.
Meanwhile, the Greens are on track to increase their Senate numbers to 12 when the new senators take their seats after July 1.
In the new parliamentary term, Labor will need both the Greens, and one or two minor party or independent senators, to pass legislation opposed by the Coalition.
One of those independent senators might be former Wallaby rugby player, David Pocock, who is poised to snatch the Liberal Party’s ACT Senate seat off outgoing minister Zed Seselja.
Tasmania’s Jacqui Lambie Party may also pick up an extra Senate seat in the island state, at the expense of the Liberal Party.