Australia election 2022 live: PM-elect Albanese wants to ‘change the way politics works’; Dutton front-runner to lead Liberals; Tim Wilson concedes Goldstein

[ad_1]

Daniel Hurst

South Australian Liberal senator Alex Antic said the Coalition must not adopt a more ambitious climate policy, claiming that would only backfire.

“In many cases people we’re trying to appease the climate crowd – look what happens,” Antic told Sky News on Sunday morning. “You throw the left and the climate crowd a bone and then they just use it to crack you on the head with later on.”

Echoing Donald Trump, Antic said the Liberal party had become an “elite club”, adding:

The other thing I want to see from the party is a drift away from the political swamp. We have too many political staffers who become politicians in this party.

Asked by Sky News host Rita Panahi how the party machinery could stand up against a narrative that it must move to a small-L liberal approach to become electable, Antic said: “The first thing is to switch the fake news antennae off.”

Antic appealed to his party colleagues to “push back on these globalist forces that are coming through and climate change is one of them”.

“We’ve got to drown out the Guardians, the ABCs – we didn’t do it when we were in power, we’re going to have to do it when we’re in opposition,” he said.

“Much of the blame for the teal revolution in this country lays firmly in the lap of conservatives of the last two decades not shooting down this nonsense about climate change, allowing school children to go to sleep upset because they think the world is coming to an end. That has given rope to these teal candidates … It’s like the parent that says to the child you can’t eat chocolate all day every day and they kick and scream and wail – well, sometimes you’ve got to be a tough parent you’ve got to tell it like it is.”

Incoming member for Goldstein, independent Zoe Daniel, acknowledges Tim Wilson’s concession.

Royce Kurmelovs

The peak industry body for the Australian oil and gas industry has congratulated Anthony Albanese on his election win saying it “looks forward to working with any new government”.

The acting chief executive for the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association (APPEA), Damian Dwyer, said in a statement that the “industry has a track record of working constructively with all governments”:

We urge any new administration to continue to recognise the critical role of gas in the future decarbonised energy mix and the development of our region, as well as focusing policy efforts on improving the competitiveness of the nation’s investment environment.

We are committed to economy-wide net zero by 2050 and APPEA members are already spending billions of dollars on decarbonisation tools such as carbon capture and storage (CCS) and hydrogen-related technologies.

Last week the chief of Santos and former APPEA chair, Kevin Gallagher, told an industry conference that he wasn’t worried about the outcome of the election as “energy security is going to be important, no matter who’s in power”.

“My request is that there be no big kneejerk factors, that there’s no big Biden-type policy announcement on day one, in closing things down, because I think that’d be very disruptive,” he said.

Last year the International Energy Agency said limiting global heating to 1.5C, a goal set out in the Paris agreement, meant exploration and exploitation of new fossil fuel basins had to stop in 2021.

There are currently 12,200km of new gas pipelines proposed for Australia, worth $25.8b, that are a risk of becoming stranded assets as the world moves away from fossil fuels.

Wilson indicates he wants to write a book.

He says it is a “deeply unsettling” time for the country, and the election has been a reset. But he says it is too early to draw conclusions from the outcome of the election this early.

Wilson ends the press conference by saying he always made decisions he felt were in the national interest because that’s the job of a federal parliament. He said he recognised that might not always be popular in the local electorate.

Wilson says he is “immensely proud” of everything he achieved in parliament and no one can take it away from him. He says he didn’t think it was an issue with him personally that cost him the seat, stating the issues in his electorate were issues faced in other electorates like Higgins.

Wilson lists his opposition to the ratification of an extradition treaty with China, and then the work around the postal survey on same-sex marriage (which Simon Birmingham named as the beginning of the troubles for the Liberals).

He also mentions his time as an assistant minister on emissions reduction.

He gets emotional when he says thank you to his husband, Ryan Bolger, who is standing beside him.

You’ve sacrificed so much for my service I want to say thank you.

Tim Wilson concedes in Goldstein

Liberal MP Tim Wilson has formally conceded Goldstein to independent candidate Zoe Daniel.

He has thanked the voters of Goldstein and his staff.

My colleague Daniel Hurst has all you need to know on the next steps for the incoming Albanese Labor government.

Corflute vandalism (or more accurately, candidates complaining about it) was somewhat prominent this campaign. Looks like it’s still going.

The South Australian premier, Peter Malinauskas, is holding a press conference on the federal election result.

He says SA Labor’s showing has been very strong, and mentions Labor picking up the former Liberal seat of Boothby.

He says winning it is “a bit deal” and the fact that winning Sturt is still being talked about is “somewhat astonishing.”

Malinauskas says he looks forward to working collaboratively with an Albanese federal Labor government, and he will make sure they deliver for South Australians.

Daniel Hurst

The prime minister of Solomon Islands, Manasseh Sogavare, has congratulated Anthony Albanese on his election victory.

Sogavare, who has written a letter to Albanese, also assured him “that Solomon Islands remains Australia’s steadfast friend and development partner of choice”.

China’s security deal with Solomon Islands, signed during the early stages of the election campaign, was a major point of conflict between the two main political parties. Labor had accused the Coalition of presiding over the worst foreign policy failure in the Pacific since the second world war. Labor also pledged to increase foreign aid, take the climate crisis seriously, and step up maritime assistance to the region. In a statement issued today, Sogavare said Albanese’s election victory “signifies that the people of Australia embraced Mr Albanese’s vision, policy frameworks and the direction he espoused for Australia and more broadly in relation to Australia’s neighbours in the region and internationally”.

I write on behalf of my government and the people of Solomon Islands to convey to you, your government and the people of Australia my sincere congratulations on your election victory as the 31st prime minister of Australia to lead Australia into the future.

Sogavare said his country remembered “with gratitude and acknowledge with appreciation Australia’s tremendous assistance to Solomon Islands over the years, in particular, during the period of our ethnic unrest when your government and your country together with members of the Pacific Islands Forum assisted us to get back on our feet”.

He also acknowledged Australia’s support to respect to unrest in November 2021 and Covid-related assistance earlier this year:

My government and people are forever grateful to you, the government and people of Australia for the generous support, financially and in-kind during and after these testing times. Much however, remains to be done.

Sogavare concluded by wishing Albanese and his incoming government “all the best as he leads Australia to new heights”. Sogavare “further assured him of taking Solomon Islands’ relationship with Australia to another level under Albanese’s tenure as the prime minister of Australia”.

That’s all from me, folks! I foresee a nanna nap in my immediate future. There’s still plenty to unfold in election news, Josh Taylor is here to guide you through it.

Dutton front-runner to replace Morrison as other leadership contenders emerge

Paul Karp

With outgoing treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, on track to lose his seat of Kooyong, the presumptive front-runner for the Liberal leadership is outgoing defence minister, Peter Dutton.

Dutton only narrowly lost the leadership ballot to replace Malcolm Turnbull in 2018 to Scott Morrison, 45 votes to 40. The moderate wing of the party, which swung the leadership to Morrison, have suffered the greatest losses, putting Dutton, a conservative, in the box seat.

Depending on final results, MPs and senators from Dutton’s home seat of Queensland could make up nearly one quarter of the party room.

But the party is still casting around for other options. Guardian Australia has confirmed there are efforts to recruit outgoing trade, tourism and investment minister, Dan Tehan, to run, and outgoing home affairs minister, Karen Andrews, is reportedly in a similar position. On Sunday Andrews did not rule out running for the leadership.

She told a doorstop in the Gold Coast:

It is way too early to even have a discussion about leadership within the Liberal National party. At this stage the counting of votes is still continuing, [until] we have an indication about who will be elected as members of the House of Representatives and Senate, it is way too early for there to be a conversation about that.

At some point, the Liberal party room will meet and we will elect a new leader but that is not a discussion for today. I am not going to engage in the discussion at all, within 24 hours of a devastating loss for the Liberal and National party.

Tehan said running for the leadership was the “last thing on my mind” but also didn’t rule it out.

He told Sky News:

What we’ve got to do is make sure we are looking after those who have lost their seats, make sure we are scrutinising every last vote that comes in. At this stage what we need to be doing is making sure we regroup and come together … we’ve got to wait and see what happens … there’s still a lot of votes to be counted, it’s far too premature to be having those discussions, we’re 12 hours after election day.

Here’s the video of Scott Morrison speaking at Horizon church this morning:

Meanwhile, in Christopher Pyne’s old seat:

Dr Monique Ryan said earlier the AEC hasn’t declared the seat of Kooyong, and Josh Frydenberg hasn’t called her yet. But she said:

I feel like we have succeeded and I will be the next member for Kooyong.

She noted that the Liberal party tends not to put women in safe seats, and said:

There is a momentum for change in the Australian political system. People like myself, who aren’t career politicians, have a lot to offer. I’ve got a lifetime of lived experience in the acute care health system and the other independents, as well as mature people who have done well in other walks of life and we have got a lot to bring to parliament.

She also said quotas have been effective in other industries, and that the Liberal party has a problem with its female representation.

Labor’s Terri Butler concedes in Griffith

Labor MP Terri Butler concedes in Griffith – she’s lost to Greens candidate Max Chandler-Mather:

Hi everyone. On the count so far it seems clear that I will not be returned as the Member for Griffith.

I wish the new Member well in delivering on all the promises he has made.

— Terri Butler MP (@terrimbutler) May 22, 2022

[ad_2]

Source link