AUSTRALIA’S LEFT-LEANING Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has basked in his landslide election win, promising a “disciplined, orderly” government to confront cost-of-living pain and tariff turmoil.

Opposition leader Peter Dutton has conceded the election. 

Dutton, a former policeman who critics tagged “Trump-lite” for policies that included slashing the civil service, endured the rare humiliation of losing his own seat. 

“We didn’t do well enough during this campaign. That much is obvious tonight and I accept full responsibility,” Dutton told supporters in a concession speech. 

Meanwhile, Albanese promised to be a “disciplined, orderly government in our second term”.

“We’ll work hard each and every day,” he promised, speaking to journalists in Sydney.

The scale of Albanese’s win took his own party by surprise.

“It’s still sinking in,” Treasurer Jim Chalmers told national broadcaster ABC.

“This was beyond even our most optimistic expectations. It was a history-making night. It was one for the ages.”

But the win came with “healthy helpings of humility”, he said, because under-pressure Australians want “stability in uncertain times”. 

US President Donald Trump’s trade tariffs and the chaos they unleashed may not have been the biggest factor in the Labor Party victory but analysts said they helped.

“If we want to understand why a good chunk of the electorate has changed across the election campaign over the last couple of months, I think that’s the biggest thing,” said Henry Maher, a politics lecturer at the University of Sydney.

“In times of instability, we expect people to go back to a kind of steady incumbent.”

Albanese has promised to embrace renewable energy, cut taxes, tackle a worsening housing crisis, and pour money into a creaking healthcare system.

Dutton wanted to slash immigration, crack down on crime and ditch a longstanding ban on nuclear power.

Economic concerns have dominated the contest for the many Australian households struggling to pay inflated prices for milk, bread, power and petrol.

The 36-day campaign was a largely staid affair but there were moments of unscripted levity.

Albanese tumbled backwards off the stage at a heaving campaign rally, while Dutton drew blood when he hit an unsuspecting cameraman in the head with a stray football.

Leaders around the world congratulated Albanese on his triumph.

Taoiseach Micheál Martin and Tánaiste Simon Harris offered their  congratulations to Albanese, saying they were looking forward to working with Albanese in the future and mentioning the “strong” bond between Ireland and Australia.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he hoped to “promote freedom and stability in the Indo-Pacific” with Australia, a “valued ally, partner, and friend of the United States”.

Albanese said he had spoken with the prime ministers of Papua New Guinea and New Zealand and received “some good text messages” from leaders in Britain, France, “and a range of others”.

The premier said he planned to speak with the leaders of Indonesia and Ukraine, promising to back Kyiv against Russia’s invasion: “That’s my government’s position. It was yesterday. It still is.”

© AFP 2025