Anthony Albanese was elected the 31st Prime Minister of Australia and his acceptance speech was truly inspiring for a better future.
Our new Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has clearly already won the hearts of Australians, as the polls showed over the weekend.
Albo started by acknowledging and thanking the traditional owners of the land he stood on which was an excellent preface for what was to come. A leader who seems to truly care and have some perspective on the different experiences of Australians.
I am deeply honoured to serve as Australia’s Prime Minister.
As Prime Minister, I want to bring people together and lead a government that is as courageous, hard-working and caring as the Australian people.
That work starts today. pic.twitter.com/qhu8JxHx2g
— Anthony Albanese (@AlboMP) May 22, 2022
While addressing his supporters at Canterbury-Hurlstone Park RSL Club in Sydney, Albo said: “I want Australia to continue to be a country that no matter where you live, who you worship, who you love or what your last name is, that places no restrictions on your journey in life.”
Albanese’s lived experience growing up working class seems to give him a perspective, unlike the previous government.
“No one left behind because we should always look after the disadvantaged and the vulnerable. But also no one held back, because we should always support aspiration and opportunity. That is what my government will do.”
Albo’s idealistic message was full of promises but he intuitively knew that Australians want to know exactly how he plans on changing the country for the better.
“Together we can end the climate wars. Together we can take advantage of the opportunity for Australia to be a renewable energy superpower. Together we can work in common interests with business and unions to drive productivity, lift wages and profits.
“I want an economy that works for people, not the other way around. Together we can as a country say that all of us, if the Fair Work Commission doesn’t cut the wage of minimum aged workers, we can say that we welcome that absolutely. Together we can strengthen universal healthcare through Medicare.”
The incoming Prime Minister said he will be getting to work on Monday morning: “My fellow Australians, no one gets here by themselves. And I wouldn’t be standing here tonight without the support, hard work and belief of so many people. To my parliamentary team, including my Deputy, Richard Marles, and my Senate leader, Penny Wong. My terrific economic team led by Jim Chalmers and Katy Gallagher.
“On Monday morning, arrangements are in place to have these people sworn in as members of my team. To enable Penny and I to attend the important Quad leader’s meeting in Tokyo, with President Biden, Prime Minister Kishida and Prime Minister Modi. And I want the leaders of the economic team to start work on Monday morning as well.”
Well, Monday morning is here and Anthony Albanese has been sworn in as the Prime Minister.
The Labor Party currently has only 72 lower house seats and needs to get to 76 to form a majority government, so people wonder how he has been sworn in as the new PM if we’re still awaiting election results.
Governor-General David Hurley needed to be sure that Albanese would be able to govern in some form and the election results on Saturday showed that Labor is the only major party that will be able to govern.
Because of the upcoming Quad leaders meeting in Tokyo today, the process needed to be sped up so, under legal advice, the Governor-General decided Albo would be able to govern the parliament with or without the support of the crossbench.
Now, in accordance with the policy platform Labor sold itself on, the new government will focus on the following issues, among many others:
- The delivery of more staff and funding to the aged care sector
- The creation of a National Anti-Corruption Commission
- Generous subsidies across the board for childcare
- The commitment to net zero emissions by 2050 and a 200 target of 43%
- Developing more accessible and affordable education
- Tax breaks for the purchase of electric vehicles
- The development of 50 urgent care clinics to take the pressure off hospitals along with decreasing the price of medicine
- Labor’s new shared-equity scheme, which would see the government buy 30$ or 40% of properties with buyers
It sounds like Albo has got a lot of work on his plate, here’s hoping he can handle it.
