Latest news with #AustraliaElection
Bloomberg
3 days ago
- General
- Bloomberg
Albanese's Australian Balancing Act Faces Greatest Test Yet
Welcome to Balance of Power, bringing you the latest in global politics. If you haven't yet, sign up here. During Australia's recent election campaign, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, on his way to a historic win, was asked whether he trusted US President Donald Trump.
Daily Mail
4 days ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE Ultimate Liberal insider Niki Savva makes big call about the future of the party
One of the best connected political operatives in Australia has claimed the Liberal Party is on the brink of extinction following its landslide defeat at the May 3 federal election. Niki Savva - a former staffer to Peter Costello, newspaper columnist and regular commentator on the ABC's Insiders show - issued the dire warning while speaking at the Sydney Writers' Festival in Town Hall on Saturday. Fellow panelists Waleed Aly, George Megalogenis and Amy Remeikis listened intently as Savva described the Coalition wipeout as an 'unmitigated disaster'. 'I think the way things have turned out, the Liberal Party is on the brink of extinction,' Savva said. 'I think they have spent the last ten years moving further and further to the right, trying to appease an ageing ultra-conservative base. 'If the Liberal Party doesn't change, it will die. If it continues to go on this path, then it will no longer cease to exist as a mainstream political party.' Labor claimed 94 seats at the election, while the Coalition took just 43. The Liberals also lost their leader Peter Dutton when voters in his electorate of Dickson swung towards Labor candidate, Ali France. A more measured Aly supported Savva's argument, blaming the party's failings on walking away from a focus on economics. Savva (left) joined a panel of esteemed commentators for a Sydney Writers' Festival panel discussion on Saturday 'I think when Niki talks about the Liberal Party being on the brink of extinction, she's not being melodramatic,' he said. 'What's happened is liberal economics ceased to be the organising principle (of the party).' Aly said the Liberal Party of old 'wouldn't really do the culture-warring in the way that we've come to know'. 'John Howard was, I think, brilliant at resolving this contradiction by saying, "I'll give you Liberal economics, even with the uncertainties that that has inherent in it ... but I'll then re-securitise you through the politics of culture, nation, national identity".' Dutton weighed in on a number of 'culture war' topics in the lead up to May 3. He slammed 'woke' agendas in the nation's school systems and planned to sack tens of thousands of public servants while calling the rest back to work in the office. He also announced he would only stand in front of the Australian flag - rather than including the Indigenous and Torres Strait Islander flags as Anthony Albanese does. Dutton also criticised the number of Welcome to Country ceremonies held at public events and ceremonies. Waleed Aly claimed the Liberal Party has strayed too far from its roots in recent years Aly claimed the party's stance on migration was also partially to blame for declining votes in outer-city seats. Dutton at one point promised to reduce net migration to 160,000 people in his first year if elected. The former member for Dickson promised to slash permanent migration from 185,000 in 2024-25 to 140,000 in 2025-26. Aly claimed the Liberals have long alienated minorities - driving his own late father, a Liberal-supporting business owner, from the party decades ago. 'You have a situation where all these minorities – and I'm not into the whole identity politics, analysis of things – but all these minorities, having been alienated repeatedly, over and over a long period of time, haven't come back to (the party),' Aly said. Political analyst and left-wing commentator Remeikis, from the Australia Institute, said the election was a grave sign of things to come for the party. 'I don't just think that the Liberal Party is heading to extinction; I think this is the death notice,' she said. 'This is the last gasp of the Liberal Party. 'And I think it's coming up to the last gasp of the two party system in Australia, which has basically been the foundation of our democracy since the post-war. 'And the reason I say that is that the Liberals have lost most of their blue ribbon seats.' Remeikis said the Coalition was not likely to win the next election, and wouldn't have a chance 'until 2030'. 'We've got at least six years of the Labor government ahead of us,' she said. 'By the time the Coalition, if it still exists – if the Liberal Party still exists, if the National Party still exists – are collectively competitive again, we're in the 2030s. 'Do you think anyone is talking about nuclear or the energy transition? Gee whiz. No. So (the parties are) completely irrelevant to these fights that they're having.' The commentators also criticised Dutton's campaign style. They labelled him 'not match fit' at press conferences, shambolic in his policy choice, and said Dutton's attempt at softening his 'hard man' image only confused voters. The 'Trump effect' also had a big impact on the election, the pundits added. 'The Trump factor was kicking in around the world, and Trump was starting to be a drag on the right-wing ticket, wherever it was being tested,' Cassidy said. Aly said the effects of Trump's policies in Australia, including the tariffs, began to scare local voters. 'What I think it ultimately happened was Trump came in petrified everybody, everyone who looked at his style of politics and thought, "oh, wow, this could be there could be real world consequences to this and Australia as a collective",' he said.
South China Morning Post
5 days ago
- General
- South China Morning Post
Australia's youngest-ever senator is 21 – and she wasn't expected to win
A woman who turned 21 on the day of Australia 's federal election in May has been declared the nation's youngest ever senator. And like many female candidates who run for election in Australia, Charlotte Walker was not expected to win. The former union official won the governing centre-left Labor Party's third Senate seat for South Australia state in a complicated rank order voting system. A party's third choice rarely wins. She had the lowest vote count of the six newly elected senators for the state. The Australian Electoral Commission officially declared the poll Tuesday. The new job will be a 'big adjustment,' said Walker, who starts her six-year term July 1. A federal lawmaker's base salary is more than 205,000 Australian dollars ($133,000) annually. 'There's a few feelings. Obviously, there's a lot of pressure,' Walker told Australian Broadcasting Corporation after the results were announced late on Monday.
Reuters
5 days ago
- Business
- Reuters
Australia's opposition coalition reunites a week after split
SYDNEY, May 28 (Reuters) - Australia's conservative opposition coalition said on Wednesday it would reunite, a week after splitting over policy differences following a resounding election defeat. The Liberal and National parties have shared power for decades in state and federal politics, with the Nationals broadly representing the interests of rural communities and the Liberals contesting city seats. "Our parties are at their best when they work together, to fight, right now as a strong opposition for this government," new Liberal Party leader Sussan Ley told a news conference. "I know that we will be a great partnership going forward." In a May federal election dominated by voter backlash against U.S. President Donald Trump's policies, the Liberal Party - historically the more dominant of the two parties in the coalition - was reduced to 28 out of 150 seats in the country's lower house of parliament, with the Nationals holding 15 seats. The incumbent Labor Party led by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese increased its seats to 94 from 77. The two conservative parties briefly split last week due to differences over policies, including nuclear energy, powers to break up leading supermarket chains and policies relating to regional Australia. Ley, a moderate who took over after the former Liberal leader lost his seat in the election, also announced her shadow cabinet, naming deputy leader Ted O'Brien as shadow Treasurer. Angus Taylor, the former shadow Treasurer from the right of the party who ran against Ley for the leadership, was moved to a shadow defence role. Precursors of both parties have been in alliance for over a century, though they have briefly split several times over that period.
Daily Mail
5 days ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
Australia elects its youngest senator EVER who will pick up a huge salary - but many can't help but ask the same question
A woman who turned 21 on the day of Australia's federal election in May has been declared the nation's youngest ever senator. Charlotte Walker, a former union official, won Labor's third Senate seat for South Australia - an unexpected result in the preferential voting system, where third-ranked candidates rarely succeed. She had the lowest vote count of the six newly elected senators for the state. The Australian Electoral Commission officially declared the poll Tuesday. The new job will be a 'big adjustment,' said Walker, who starts her six-year term July 1. A federal lawmaker's base salary is more than $205,000 annually. 'There's a few feelings. Obviously, there's a lot of pressure,' Walker told Australian Broadcasting Corp. after the results were announced late Monday. 'I want to do a good job for South Australians, but I also want to show young people, particularly young women, that this is achievable and this is something that they can do also. I'm also really excited. Not many people my age get to … go to Canberra and have the ability to contribute in the way that I will,' she added. However, her historic win hasn't been welcomed by everyone. Some Australians have voiced concern, arguing that at just 21, Walker lacks the life experience needed for such a major role in parliament. 'Nothing personal, but sorry, at 21, few people have the wisdom, maturity, life experience, understanding of fundamental issues of the society, knowledge of the nation's and world's history to make a sound decision,' one said. 'I'm all for 21 year olds having a go, but she's never worked in the private sector, never managed a small business and probably never had a mortgage,' a second added. 'Good on her and she certainly seems a go getter. I'd love to see her apply these skills to a real career. 'Instead, she becomes yet another professional politician with no life or business experience making decisions about the future of the country - this is what is wrong with Australian politics,' a third said. Others suggested she was a refreshing change. 'Don't succumb to old "experienced" colleagues and office politics - you are representing people,' one said. 'Good on her - maybe she can now represent the generation in her cohort which has been missing in Parliament,' a second added. 'Gotta start somewhere. So long as she doesn't think she knows everything remains teachable and works hard,' a third said. Before Walker, the youngest senator was Jordon Steele-John of the Greens party, who was elected for Western Australia state in 2017 at the age of 23. Australia's youngest-ever federal lawmaker was Wyatt Roy, who was elected to the House of Representatives in 2010 at the age of 20. He lasted two three-year terms before he was voted out of his Queensland state seat.
