The Labor Party is on track to secure the minimum number of seats needed to form a majority government.
Figures tallied by the Australian Electoral Commission show the Labor Party is currently leading with 76 seats. But some, including Gilmore’s headquarters on the New South Wales south coast, are too close to tell.
On Monday morning, senior Labor figures were not ready to claim a majority government victory, but said there was a “strong and credible path” towards it.
“We are hopeful for a majority government, but there are still more votes to be counted. That’s the reality. We have a few more days left,” newly sworn in Finance Minister Katy Gallagher told ABC News Breakfast on Monday.
The Labor Party is on track to secure the minimum number of seats needed to form a majority government. (Pictured: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Foreign Minister Penny Wong and Jodie Haydon)
Figures tallied by the Australian Electoral Commission show the Labor Party is currently leading with 76 seats.
The latest figures from the Australian Electoral Commission put the Labor Party ahead with 76 seats and the coalition with 58 MPs.
Mail-in votes will continue to be received and counted through June 3 and orders will be returned on or before June 28.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles, Foreign Minister Penny Wong, Treasurer Jim Chalmers and Finance Minister Katy Gallagher were sworn in by Governor-General David Hurley in Canberra on Monday.
Albanese travels to Tokyo with Senator Wong for a summit with leaders of the United States, Japan and India.
But the seat count continues as a swath of incoming independents are expected to form a large crossbench of at least 15 members.
Before the elections there were seven cross deputies.
Regardless of the parliamentary makeup, the Prime Minister will work with the crossbench to unite the country, Senator Gallagher said.
“We are certainly going to have a bigger crossbench and Anthony is exactly the kind of prime minister who has the skills and the strength to deal with that,” he told ABC Radio National.
“The people of Australia voted for change at the weekend, not just in terms of government, they voted in terms of change in how they want parliament to work and Anthony is the right person for the job of dealing with that.”
Newly sworn in Finance Minister Katy Gallagher (left) said Labor was not prepared to claim a majority victory in government as there were “more votes to count”. (Pictured with Governor General David Hurley)
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (centre), Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles (far right), Foreign Minister Penny Wong (far left), Treasurer Jim Chalmers (centre left) and Finance Minister Katy Gallagher (centre right) They took the oath before the Governor General. David Hurley in Canberra on Monday
Albanese (pictured) flew to Tokyo with Senator Wong for a summit with leaders from the United States, Japan and India.
Less than 48 hours after the federal election, work has already begun to audit the existing budget and find cases of waste, says Treasurer Jim Chalmers.
He hopes to present Labour’s first budget in nine years at the end of October.
“This is probably the most complicated set of economic conditions that a new government and a new treasurer have inherited,” he told Sky News.
A third of voters supported a minor party with their first preference, and leading Labor figure Tanya Plibersek said the incoming government would learn from the recent campaign to address that dissatisfaction.
Ms Plibersek, who is expected to take on the education portfolio, told the Seven Network that Labor needed to look closely at why people were moving away from the main parties.
The Labor Party is expected to finalize its ministry next Tuesday once the caucus meets.