Anthony Albanese Made No Reference To God Or The Queen When He Was Sworn In As Prime Minister
Anthony Albanese has wasted absolutely no time in casting aside conventions after being sworn in as Australia's 31st Prime Minister.
In the first seconds of him becoming Australia's new leader, Albanese shrugged off the religious language usually seen during the swearing in. Instead, the new PM took an affirmation.
"I, Anthony Norman Albanese do solemnly and sincerely affirm and declare that I will well and truly serve the Commonwealth of Australia, her land and her people in the office of Prime Minister," he said at the swearing in.
Anthony Albanese, made an 'affirmation' instead of swearing an 'oath', for his swearing in as Prime Minister of Australia.
— Nom de plume and over the moon - Albo is my PM (@ecobard) May 23, 2022
THAT'S HUGE - that's secularism.#auspol
Australia's new Prime Minister also didn't mention the Queen which cast a stark contrast to his hyper-religious predecessor Scott Morrison.
Previous Prime Ministers have traditionally said: "So Help Me God! I [full name], do solemnly and sincerely affirm and declare that I will well and truly serve Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Second, Her heirs and successors according to law."
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Albanese's decision to dump the religious oath makes him the second Prime Minister in history to do so. Australia's first female Prime Minister Julia Gillard was the first in 2010.
Albanese's move has been praised on social media for taking a secular stand.
One social media user said: "Yep, it's fantastic. Looking forward to a secular government, one free from religion - governing on principles of human rights, science and reason."
A second chimed in with: "Love this. Beats pretending by swearing on a holy book that doesn't guide your behaviour or beliefs any other day."
A third added: "Now all he needs to do is ditch the Lord's Prayer in Parliament."
Albanese's decision to dump religious wording at his swearing-in wasn't the only major change of the day.
Moments later Albanese gave his first speech as Prime Minister, with eagle-eyed viewers noticing one very key difference behind him.
In a massive statement, Anthony Albanese has ensured both the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags are displayed alongside the Australian Flag in the Blue Room for his first press conference as Prime Minister. @10NewsFirst #auspol pic.twitter.com/YkPzYeFMKr
— Stela Todorovic (@Stela_Todorovic) May 23, 2022
Instead of having three national flags behind him, Albanese's staff removed two and replaced them with the Aboriginal Flag and the Torres Strait Islander Flag.
Albanese didn't make a song and dance out of it. In fact, the change went by completely unmentioned by the new Prime Minister as he launched into his first speech, flanked by the flags of Australia's First Nations people.
The move was praised online by Aussies, with former Australian of the Year Grace Tame leading the charge with 'always was, always will be'.
The statement infers that Australian land is Aboriginal land, and it was before and continues to be so.
In another shake-up, Albanese took newly-minted Foreign Minister Penny Wong with him to Tokyo for the Quad Summit meeting of international leaders in Japan.
Traditionally, the Prime Minister would attend on his own.
Rachel Lang