Labor's Anthony Albanese has defied the so-called "incumbency curse" to be re-elected Australia's prime minister in a landslide.
Though official vote counting won't finish for days, but Albanese's centre-left government will dramatically increase its majority after the conservative Liberal-National coalition suffered a thumping defeat nationwide.
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has conceded defeat in both the federal election and his own seat of Dickson.
Labor has seen swings towards them right across the country – a rare feat for a second-term government in Australia - and Albanese becomes the first prime minister to win back-to-back elections in over 20 years.
It's a remarkable turnaround from the start of the year, when polling put Albanese's popularity at record lows after three years of global economic pain, tense national debate, and growing government dissatisfaction.
Albanese, 62, had pitched himself as a steady hand to guide Australia through a period of global turbulence turbocharged by Trump’s tariff war. He becomes the first Australian prime minister to serve consecutive terms since 2004.
In an apparent reference to Trump’s policies, Albanese said he would “choose the Australian way”.
“We do not need to beg or borrow or copy from anywhere else. We do not seek our inspiration from overseas. We find it right here in our values and in our people,” he said. - May 3, 2025
