Anthony Albanese is set to become Australia’s new Prime Minister, following an action-packed 2022 federal election night, with key Liberal strongholds lost to teal independents and the Greens on track to win a historic number of seats.

As we wait for the vote count to conclude, here’s a wrap-up of results so far:

  • Despite garnering less than one-third of the total votes, Labor is set to form government.
  • With 66.3% of votes counted as of Sunday morning, the party had secured at least 72 seats. However it remains unclear whether enough seats will be gained to form a majority government.
  • The party would need 76 seats to be able to govern without relying on the Greens or independents.
  • The Coalition lost 20 seats, including those of several high profile male MPs lost to teal independents who campaigned on climate change, integrity and respect for women.
  • Kooyong, Wentworth and Goldstein are three of key seats formerly held by Liberals Josh Frydenberg, Dave Sharma and Tim Wilson who conceded or face defeat to independents Monique Ryan, Allegra Spender and Zoe Daniel.
  • Independents have won 11 seats in total.
  • The Greens are on track to win up to 4 seats, with 3 confirmed.

Meanwhile, the 2022 election result marks the fourth time that Labor has ever been elected to power from opposition since World War Two.

In his victory speech on Saturday night, Anthony Albanese interpreted Labor’s return to power after nine years in Opposition as a vote for change.

“Tonight the Australian people have voted for change,” he said.

In his speech, Mr Albanese highlighted commitments to Indigenous reconciliation, ending the “climate wars” and working with unions and businesses to lift wages.

Scott Morrison who conceded defeat around 11pm after calling Mr Albanese to congratulate him on his victory, attributed the result to “a time of great upheaval and disruption in politics”.

“We’ve seen in our own politics a great deal of disruption as the way people have voted today with major parties having one of the lowest primary votes we’ve ever seen,” Mr Morrison said announcing his resignation from the Liberal party’s leadership.

In early reactions, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson was among the first world leaders to congratulate Anthony Albanese.

 

But France’s outgoing foreign affairs minister decided to take a snipe at the outgoing government.

Jean-Yves Le Drian seemed pleased Mr Morrison had lost the election hinting at the French submarine deal gone sour.

“I can’t stop myself from saying that the defeat of Morrison suits me very well,” Mr Le Drian said during a ceremony.

What happens next?

Anthony Albanese is expected to be sworn in as Australia’s 31st Prime Minister.

This is necessary for him to be able to represent the country to the Quad meeting in Tokyo on Tuesday, with Deputy Labor leader Richard Marles expected to be acting Prime Minister during Mr Albanese’s trip to Japan.

A number of key seats were still in doubt, as of Sunday morning, but beyond that the Australian Electoral Commision said the day would feature “only small updates to results expected in the tally room”.

“We’ll have small postal vote counts appearing in the AEC tally room throughout the day, starting from this morning,” Electoral Commissioner Tom Rogers said.

“Postal vote counts started on the Tuesday after election day in 2019 but we’ve brought forward in recognition of the large volume and our ability this election to sort them earlier than in the past.”

The Liberals are set to decide on their new party leader, with Peter Dutton considered the stand-out candidate. Scott Morrison who said he will remain as the MP for the seat of Cook, will hand over the leadership at the next party room.