Anthony Albanese, Australia’s incumbent Labor Party candidate, won re-election as prime minister, media outlets reported on Saturday, May 3. While official vote-counting won’t end for days, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and BBC described Albanese’s win as a “landslide” victory.
It is the first time an incumbent has won a second consecutive term as Australian prime minister in more than two decades.
According to the BBC, Australia’s center-left government will “dramatically increase” its majority as the conservative Liberal-National coalition was defeated nationwide.
Trump looms over Australian election
The Labor Party had tied Albanese’s conservative opponent Peter Dutton to U.S. President Donald Trump, calling him “DOGE-y Dutton,” a reference to the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, led by Trump’s billionaire adviser, Elon Musk.
“Australians have chosen to face global challenges the Australian way, looking after each other while building for the future,” Albanese told his supporters. “We do not need to beg or borrow or copy from anywhere else. We do not seek our inspiration overseas. We find it right here in our values and in our people.”
Energy policy and inflation were two major issues in the Australian election, the Associated Press notes, especially as the cost of living in the country and interest rates surged.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement that America “ looks forward to deepening its relationship with Australia to advance our common interests and promote freedom and stability in the Indo-Pacific and globally.”
The results of the Australian election mirror Canada’s on Monday, April 28, when voters elected Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney of the Liberal Party. Like Albanese, Carney was critical of Trump, and said he’d push back against the president’s tariffs and threats to make Canada the “51st state.”
Dutton loses parliamentary seat
In addition to the prime minister election, Dutton also lost his parliamentary seat.
He congratulated the winner, Ali France, at a Liberal Party event in Brisbane, Reuters reported.
“Ali and I have been combatants for a number of elections now, but she was successful in Dickson tonight and she will do a good job as a local member,” Dutton said while conceding defeat.
