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Albanese’s new government to shield Australia from ‘dark shadow’ of US-China trade war
Treasurer Jim Chalmers says the re-elected Labor government’s first priority will be to address the global economic uncertainty
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Protecting Australia from the “dark shadow” of a US-China trade war will be the first priority for Australia’s re-elected Labor government, Treasurer Jim Chalmers said on Sunday after a resounding election victory for his centre-left party.
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Labor Party leader Anthony Albanese, Australia’s first prime minister to win a second consecutive term in two decades, promised in remarks on Sunday that he would run a disciplined and orderly government, stressing that Australians had voted for unity.
The Labor Party appeared likely to expand its majority in parliament to at least 86 seats from 77, the Australian Broadcasting Corp projected, after most polls had suggested it would struggle to keep its slim hold on the 150-seat lower house.
More than two-thirds of votes have been tallied, with counting to resume on Monday.
Echoing an election in Canada less than a week earlier, Australia’s conservative opposition leader, Peter Dutton, lost his seat as voters, who initially focused on cost-of-living pressures, grew increasingly concerned over US President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs and other policies.
“We will be a disciplined, orderly government in our second term, just like we have been in our first,” Albanese told reporters while visiting a coffee shop in his Sydney electorate where he said his late mother took him as a child.
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