Well, it was a historical night. The Australian Labor Party had a landslide victory over the Coalition as of today having won 87 seats in the House of Representatives with more to confirm. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will now hold a second consecutive term as the nation’s Prime Minister, the first leader to win consecutive terms in 21 years.
Many electorates deemed Coalition strongholds were overturned in Labor’s favour including most notably the Opposition Leader Peter Duttons seat of Dickson in Queensland where Ali France claimed an almost 10% victory ending Duttons 21 years as an MP. The demolition of the Liberal Party, who have only claimed 39 seats in the House of Representatives has been said to be to blame for the party’s push of far right ideals in its modelling of Donald Trump’s party and campaign.
Independents were big winners representing 10 seats in the House of Representativess while the Greens sit nervously waiting as they have yet to be called to claim a seat. Party leader and member for Melbourne Adam Bandt is still yet to know of his face as the seat of Melbourne is yet to be called. Currently Labor candidate Sarah Witty holds a 52% majority with just over 67% of the vote counted.
With the Labor party set to be in office for another 3 years, we as the public must wait and see what promises it’s set to deliver. For us students we are promised a 20% HECS debt cut which would be incredibly beneficial in the current cost of living crisis. The ALP also plans to invest $8.5 billion dollars into Medicare, the most significant investment in 40 years. This will include expanding bulk billing and funding of nursing scholarships.
Sophie Janusko 