Anthony Albanese and Labor will form a majority government after winning the required 76 out of 151 seats in the House of Representatives (the lower house).
As of Monday evening only three seats remained in doubt while Labor held 75, the Coalition 57 and 16 were won by independent or minor party candidates which form the crossbench.
The Victorian seat of Macnamara was called at 8pm as a Labor win for MP Josh Burns after a tight race between both the Liberal and Greens candidates.
The seats of Deakin and Gilmore remain in doubt and are tipped for Liberals and Labor respectively.
The result comes more than a week after the election because a close race meant the Australian Electoral Commission had to count almost all the ballots in Macnamara and several other seats over the last week. When there’s a winner by a huge margin the staff don’t have to count as many because it’s obvious earlier who’s won.
Albanese was sworn in as PM after it became clear Labor would hold at least a minority government (i.e. less than half the total seats, but still more than anyone else).
Having picked up so many more seats than the Coalition, it was the clear winner on election night. But it was still possible Labor would have to negotiate with independents and minor parties to form government. Now it doesn’t have to because it holds the majority.
It’s great news for Labor, because when it introduces a bill they can be confident it’ll pass provided all Labor MPs vote with the party.
But a minority government would’ve meant Labor would have to be more willing to answer to and negotiate with, for example, the Greens.
The Greens Party is now the third biggest with four seats in the House of Reps and in a minority government Labor would’ve really needed those four votes to help pass legislation.
According to ABC sources, the new government will strike deals with the teals, independents and Greens to strengthen the passage of its legislation.
But as a majority government Labor can kinda sit back a little and run the show how they want. Let’s see how this goes.
