Anthony Albanese Has Been Sworn In As Australia's 31st Prime Minister
Australia, you officially have a new leader.
Labor's Anthony Albanese has been sworn in as Australia's 31st Prime Minister after securing the needed 76 seats to form a majority government over the weekend.
Albanese was sworn in at Government House in Canberra by Governor-General David Hurley.
"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.
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Also sworn in was Penny Wong as Foreign Minister, Richard Marles as Deputy Prime Minister, Jim Chalmers as Treasurer, and Katy Gallagher as Finance Minister.
Australians took to the polls on Saturday (May 21) to have their say in the federal election and turned the country into a sea of red, green, and teal.
The Scott Morrison's Liberal Party suffered staggering losses across the board, limping behind Labor's 75 seats with a measly 53.
The Greens snapped up four seats and the independents took home 10.
So far, 97 per cent of Saturday's vote has been counted, with five seats left in doubt.
Labor's win has been seen as a win for women and the climate, with a female-led crossbench that looks to focus on climate, integrity, and equality.
Now that Albanese has been sworn in, he and Penny Wong will fly to Japan to meet with leaders of the Quad - the heads of the United States, India and Japan.
"Travelling to the Quad meeting in week one signifies how important we believe this partnership is for our security," Wong said in a statement to the ABC.
“And we will be taking new energy and much more to the table - including our commitment to act on climate change after a lost decade."
US President Joe Biden called Albanese on Sunday (May 22) to congratulate him on his election win and to thank him for choosing to travel to Tokyo for the Quad meeting.
As Albanese begins his tenure as Australian Prime Minister, the Liberal Party has been left reeling from Saturday's wipe out.
Former Prime Minister Scott Morrison has resigned as party leader, despite vowing not to only days before the election.
With some seats left to be counted, there is doubt over who will take over the reins of the embattled party.
Kooyong MP Josh Frydenberg was tipped as the favourite to take over the leadership role, however his seat looks to be snapped up by teal Independent Monique Ryan as counting continues.
In the likely event that Frydenberg loses his seat, the Liberals seem likely to go with former Defence Minister Peter Dutton.
Dutton is vastly unpopular with the broader Australian public and only scraped in by a hair in his own seat of Dickson, Queensland.
Rachel Lang