• Anthony Albanese
• Australia
• PM

AUSTRALIAN PRIME MINISTER ANTHONY ALBANESE CLAIMS VICTORY, LABOR PARTY ON TRACK TO INCREASE MAJORITY

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  CapitalTimesNews / 2 weeks
• 0
• 2 min read

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has claimed victory in the country’s election, with his center-left Labor Party on track to increase its majority in the next Parliament. Albanese told supporters in a victory speech in Sydney, “Australians have chosen to face global challenges the Australian way, looking after each other while building for the future.” “We do not need to beg or borrow or copy from anywhere else. We do not seek our inspiration overseas. We find it right here in our values and in our people,” he added. The Labor Party had branded Albanese’s rival Peter Dutton, the opposition leader, “DOGE-y Dutton” and accused his conservative Liberal Party of mimicking US President Donald Trump’s administration. Dutton had earlier conceded his alliance of conservative parties had been defeated at the election and that he had lost his own parliamentary seat that he had held for 24 years. Energy policy and inflation were major issues in the campaign, with both sides agreeing the country faces a cost of living crisis. The Liberal Party blames government waste for fueling inflation and increasing interest rates, and has pledged to ax more than one in five public service jobs to reduce government spending. Labor argues Dutton’s administration would slash services to pay for its ambitions to build seven government-funded nuclear generators. Australia currently has no nuclear power, and the election took place against a backdrop of a cost of living crisis, with 3.4 million households experiencing food insecurity last year. The central bank reduced its benchmark cash interest rate by a quarter percentage point in February to 4.1%, and it is widely expected to be cut again on May 20.