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SYDNEY – Australian Labor leader Anthony Albanese will be sworn in as the country’s new prime minister on Monday as he pledges a “journey of change” to tackle climate change and rising living costs.
Along with Albany, Deputy Labor leader Richard Marles and the three awaiting prime ministers – Penny Wong and Jim Chalmers as treasurer and Katie Gallagher – will be sworn in at a ceremony in the national capital, Canberra.
Albanese and Wong then traveled to Japan on Monday to attend an important meeting of the “Quad” security grouping in Tokyo.
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“It’s a big day in my life but a big day for the country, when we change governments,” Albanese told reporters outside his Sydney suburban home.
“I want to channel the opportunity that we need to shape change so that we can bring people with us on the journey of change. I want to unite the country. “
Albanese said he had spoken with US President Joe Biden on Sunday night and was looking forward to meeting with the prime ministers of Japan and India, as well as during a quad conference on Tuesday. He will return to Australia on Wednesday.
Labor will return to power after nine years of opposition as a wave of unprecedented support for greens and climate-centric independence, which helped end almost a decade of rule by the mostly conservative coalition.
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The Labor campaign has widely illuminated the working class identity of the Albanians – a boy raised in public housing by a single mother on a disability pension – and his image as a realist integrator.
The center-left Labor still has four seats less than the 76-seat majority in the 151-seat lower house, close to a dozen races, according to television channels. Some have predicted that Labor could get enough seats to govern itself.
Official results could be a few days away, with a record 2.7 million postal votes counted on Sunday.
(Reporting by Renju Jose; Editing by Lincoln Fist.)