The Labor party has secured enough seats in the lower house to form a majority government.
Just after dinner time on Monday, a cheer went up in the Kingston Hotel in Canberra, where a number of the new ministers of the federal Labor government met for an evening meal.
Vote-counting confirmed the government had secured a majority of seats in the lower house, with the seat of Macnamara clinched by Labor MP Josh Burns.
The ABC’s Antony Green called Burns’ win in the contest for the Victorian seat, giving Labor the 76 seats required in the Legislative Assembly to lead a majority government.
There to celebrate the win with Burns was Labor’s deputy PM Richard Marles, Treasurer Jim Chalmers, and colleagues Anika Wells and Mark Dreyfus. Several new faces of Australia’s 47th parliament were also in attendance.
76. #auspol @AustralianLabor @VictorianLabor @joshburnsmp pic.twitter.com/gTGr1hX6H2
— Jim Chalmers MP (@JEChalmers) May 30, 2022
Voting continues in the marginal seats of Gilmore and Deakin, with a result still too close to call for those electorates. According to AAP, a large number of absentee and declaration votes remain uncounted.
A Labor caucus meeting on Tuesday will finalise the pick for its government front bench, to be sworn-in by the Governor-General on Wednesday.
Several star Labor candidates, who would have led ministries in the new government, lost their seats following last weekend’s election, including Home Affairs spokesperson Kristina Keneally in Fowler, and Environment spokesperson Terri Butler in Brisbane.
Last week an interim cabinet was sworn in alongside Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, including deputy Marles, Chalmers, Foreign Minister Penny Wong and Finance Minister Katy Gallagher.
Wong has hit the ground running, attending a number of international diplomatic events, including most recently to Fiji, just hours after her swearing-in.
Prime minister Alabense has also made his first big APS appointment, with the announcement of his new DPM&C secretary Professor Glyn Davis.
On Monday the Liberal party and the Nationals also announced a new-look leadership team with former defence minister and Queensland mp Peter Dutton elected unopposed to lead the dumped government team with former environment minister and NSW mp Sussan Ley as deputy leader.
Barnaby Joyce was dropped by his party in favour of his deputy Queensland mp and former banker David Littleproud. The third-generation politician and former minister for agriculture and water resources will lead alongside new deputy Perin Davey.
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