Australia’s re-elected PM says voters chose unity over division

Australia's re-elected PM Anthony Albanese and his partner Jodie Haydon walk in the streets, following his party’s decisive federal election victory -AFP

Australia's re-elected Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Sunday was greeted by well-wishers at a Sydney cafe and said the country had voted for unity over division. Albanese's center-left Labor Party won an emphatic victory in elections on Saturday. 

As vote counting continued, the government was on track to win at least 85 seats in the 150-seat House of Representatives, the lower chamber where parties need a majority to form an administration.

Labor held 78 seats in the previous Parliament, and gaining seats in a second term is rare in Australian politics. "The Australian people voted for unity rather than division," Albanese told reporters in the crowded café in the inner-suburban Leichhardt where he and his fiancee, Jodie Haydon, gathered with colleagues and supporters for coffee.

"We'll be a disciplined, orderly government in our second term, just like we have been in our first," he added. He noted that he had frequented the cafe as a child with his late mother, Marryanne Albanese, a single parent who became an invalid pensioner. She raised her only child in public housing nearby.

"I did certainly think of her last night as well. She would be very proud," Albanese said of his mother, who was a member of the Labor Party. 

In an election result reminiscent to Canada's recent election, conservative opposition leader Peter Dutton lost his parliamentary seat. 

His alliance of parties was reduced to 37 seats.