By Wendellyn Mateo
Anthony Albanese staged a stunning comeback on Saturday to win reelection as Australia’s next prime minister.
In an election welcomed with “democracy sausages” and “budgie smugglers,” Australians went to polls over the weekend to give Albanese, and his Labour Party another term to try and tackle the nation’s domestic issues while also navigating rising uncertainty in the international landscape.
He becomes the first Australian prime minister to win re-election in two decades.
Labour Party grabs majority
“Today, the Australian people have voted for Australian values: for fairness, aspiration and opportunity for all; for the strength to show courage in adversity and kindness to those in need,” left-leaning Albanese said.
While official vote counting will span for days, it is forecast that Labour will snag the majority of the seats – at least 83 – in the 150-member Parliament.
It is a far cry for the conservative Liberal-National coalition, which has only acquired 38 seats so far, according to partial results reported by the Agence-France Presse.
Liberal Party leader Peter Dutton, who lost the outer-suburban Brisbane seat, conceded defeat and took on the responsibility for the election loss on Saturday.
“Our Liberal family is hurting across the country tonight. We’ve been defined by our opponents in this election, which is not the true story of who we are, but we’ll rebuild from here,” Dutton said in a report from CNN.
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Medicare, cost-of-living concerns on Labour agenda
Labour has made key promises and major commitments in the run-up to the elections, including a heavy focus on Medicare, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
It has promised to invest about AUD8.5 billion into Medicare to triple incentives to doctors so they would not charge patients with any out-of-pocket costs.
The package will also be used to train nurses and 2,000 new general practitioner trainees a year.
Describing the Medicare card as “not labour red or Liberal blue” but “green and gold” in his victory speech in Sydney, Albanese said Medicare belonged to “all Australians” and vowed to make it stronger for everyone.
Besides Medicare, Labour also shifted its focus on housing, particularly on schemes that will help first-home buyers.
It said it would not allow foreign investors and temporary residents to buy existing homes for two years, matching the Coalition’s promise.
Among the largest issues highlighted by voters are cost-of-living concerns, which Labour has promised to tackle during its tenure.
One of its pledges is outlawing supermarket price gouging for customers and setting a standard for measuring “excessive pricing.”
This is on top of an AUD1.8-million energy bill relief and small tax cuts expected to be delivered over two stages in 2026 and 2027.
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