Anthony Albanese was sworn in as Australia’s 31st prime minister before flying to Japan with Foreign Minister Penny Wong for the Quad, an international leaders’ summit.

Jim Chalmers is now the treasurer, Richard Marles is the deputy prime minister and employment minister, and Katy Gallagher is the finance minister. The rest of Labor’s cabinet will be decided next week.

Also:

The new PM outlined his key policy areas
Former treasurer and deputy Liberal leader Josh Frydenberg conceded the seat of Kooyong to teal independent Monique Ryan
Dave Sharma conceded to Allegra Spender in Wentworth
Labor, Greens, and David Pocock look set to hold the cards in the Senate
Barnaby Joyce says the Nationals may abandon their support for net zero by 2050 but will consult his colleagues first
Queenslanders can get free flu jabs as the government seeks to curb rising cases
Vote counting in some seats is still inconclusive, especially in the NSW seat of Gilmore and the Victorian seat of Deakin

We’ll be back to do it all again tomorrow.

Latest Posts

6.45pm on May 23, 2022

New foreign minister promises First Nations foreign policy

By Nigel Gladstone

Foreign Minister Penny Wong, sworn in today, wasted no time in promising to deliver a First Nations foreign policy, boost cooperation with Pacific nations and expand opportunities for Pacific workers in Australia.

A First Nations foreign policy “weaves the voices and practices of Australia’s Indigenous peoples into our diplomacy and strengthens connections between First Nations people and the blue Pacific”, she said.

“The first thing I wanted to do [as foreign minister] is share a few thoughts with our Pacific family. We will listen because we care what the Pacific has to say.

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“Nothing is more central to the security and wellbeing of the Pacific than climate change.”

Wong also promised to “boost Australian assistance to support the region’s pandemic recovery and deepen our defence and maritime co-operation”.

There are currently more than 24,000 people from the Pacific working here, and she pledged to expand opportunities for them.

6.17pm on May 23, 2022

Dutton likely to lead opposition, but will he go the way of Brendan Nelson?

By James Massola

Peter Dutton is in the box seat to become the next leader of the federal opposition, but is he the right man to take the leadership of the Liberal Party?

Saturday’s election saw a progressive wave sweep away at least 17 of the government’s lower house MPs, with Labor, the Greens and teal independents all gaining seats.

Peter Dutton arrives at his election party.Jamila Toderas

Dutton’s public persona is set in cement: He’s the conservative warrior and arch-China hawk from Queensland who led health, then home affairs and finally defence over the last nine years; he dislikes “woke” morning teas, boycotted the apology to the stolen generation and relishes the scrap with Labor.

Labor election victory welcomed in global climate circles

By Nick O'Malley

“Welcome back to the [climate] fight, mates,” read a simple tweet from one of the world’s best-known climate scientists and communicators, Professor Michael Mann, shortly after Anthony Albanese was sworn in as prime minister on Monday morning.

Mann, distinguished professor of atmospheric science at Penn State University in the US, was not alone in celebrating Labor’s victory due to the perception that Australia would now engage more closely in the global effort to tackle climate change.

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“I’m looking forward to building on that with you, moving forward with progressive ideas, tackling climate change, and delivering results for people in both our countries,” wrote Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, echoing Fiji Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama, who wrote: “Congratulations, @AlboMP! Of your many promises to support the Pacific, none is more welcome than your plan to put the climate first – our people’s shared future depends on it.”

Rising prices force sudden closure of a major NSW gas wholesaler

By Nick Toscano

Soaring gas prices across Australia’s east coast have forced the sudden closure of gas wholesaler Weston Energy, which supplies energy to 400 companies and government agencies.

NSW-based Weston Energy on Monday ceased gas-trading operations immediately after becoming no longer able to finance cash-flow requirements. Wholesale gas prices have risen 180 per cent since April and almost tripled since the start of the year, putting the company in an “untenable position”.

Weston Energy MD Garbis Simonian said the surge in gas and coal prices put the gas trading business in an “untenable” position.Dominic Lorrimer

“The fact that Australia is the world’s largest exporter of coal and gas and yet, our domestic prices are at unprecedented high levels, highlights real policy failure,” Weston managing director Garbis Simonian said.

“Rapidly rising energy prices have put hundreds of Australian businesses, and thousands of jobs at risk.”

Weston, which had supplied seven per cent of the east coast’s commercial and industrial market, said it was working with the Australian Energy Market Operator, the Australian Energy Regulator and the Essential Services Commission to ensure customers had a “smooth transition” to new suppliers.

Wholesale prices for coal and gas have surged this year following the breakdowns or maintenance shutdowns of several coal-fired power generation units across the east coast electricity grid and intensifying global competition for fossil fuels because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Spot gas prices, which traded under $10 a gigajoule for most of last year, have been trading above $30 a gigajoule for several weeks.

Most gas in Australia is supplied on long-term contracts, rather than the spot market, meaning the steep price rises will not affect the majority of gas buyers such as big manufacturers that rely on the fuel for energy or in processing. However, gas suppliers say small to medium-sized manufacturers often rely on the spot market and have been hard-hit.

Aditya Jhunjhunwala, director of NSW-based manufacturer Causmag, which buys gas on the spot market, said prices as high as $45 a gigajoule two weeks ago had resulted in “nearly a week’s worth of gas expenses in a single day”.

“We cannot operate our factory at such cost,” he said.

5.35pm on May 23, 2022

Labor leading in 75 seats, one short of outright majority

By Nigel Gladstone

The latest official data from the Australian Electoral Commission shows Labor leading in 75 seats out of the 151 House of Representatives electorates nationally, as at 5.30pm today.

Broken down by state the data shows NSW and Victoria both looking like they will have 24 Labor MPs in the new parliament, while the Liberals will have 10 and seven representatives respectively from these states.

5.21pm on May 23, 2022

NSW records second Japanese Encephalitis death

By Mary Ward

NSW has reported its second death from Japanese Encephalitis, the mosquito-borne virus first detected in the state earlier this year.

The man in his 60s, from Corowa near the Victorian border, died at Albury Base Hospital on Friday after being diagnosed in early March.

Thirteen people in NSW have been infected with Japanese Encephalitis this year, following an outbreak across several commercial pig farms in the state’s south and west. A man in his 70s, from the Griffith area, became the state’s first death in mid-February.

The Culex annulirostris mosquito carries Japanese encephalitis.Image altered, original from QIMR

Deaths from the virus outbreak have also been reported in one Victorian and one South Australian resident.

Japanese Encephalitis is a mosquito-borne virus which can lead to neurological illness including headaches, convulsions and reduced consciousness.

The last outbreak of the virus in Australia occurred on Badu Island in the Torres Strait in 1995 and infectious disease experts have attributed this outbreak of the virus, much further south, to changing climate.

People working in and associated with the affected farms have been provided access to a vaccine.“While evidence shows mosquito numbers have declined, it remains important that people throughout the state continue to take steps to avoid mosquito bites,” NSW Health said in a statement.

5.08pm on May 23, 2022

Liberal MP says he will retain Bradfield despite teal challenge

By Nigel Gladstone

Liberal MP Paul Fletcher says he’s confident he will retain the Sydney seat of Bradfield despite a teal independent challenge from Nicolette Boele, who he estimates spent $400,000 in the campaign.

Fletcher bristled on ABC News when asked about commentary from inside and outside the party about its performance and leadership.

“There is a lot of analysis coming from people who are not friends of the Liberal Party and who are choosing this opportunity to try and get their spin into it,” Fletcher said.

Former urban infrastructure minister Paul Fletcher with former prime minister Scott Morrison earlier this month.James Brickwood

Fletcher defended former prime minister Scott Morrison and the government’s record, rejecting the idea that Morrison should have been replaced as leader before the election due to his unpopularity.

“Scott Morrison did a good job in my judgement as leader of the Liberal Party in difficult circumstances we faced extraordinary challenges, unprecedented challenges, the public health outcomes better than most countries against which we benchmark ourselves,” he said. “We are handing over the economy in good shape to Mr Albanese and his team.”

Fletcher said Liberals need to “better communicate our commitment to net zero by 2050” as opposed to change policy.

“I think there is also a clear message there about having a strong focus as a Liberal Party on measures to ensure that women have equality of opportunity, equality of outcome in the workforce and many other aspects of life,” he said.

4.55pm on May 23, 2022

Does the parliament have a mandate to go further on climate action?

By Nigel Gladstone

One of the big winners from the weekend’s election is greater action on climate change. Six independents and at least three Greens elected into the lower house have vowed to push the new Labor government to go further on climate action.

Does this parliament now have a mandate to go further on climate action? Political reporter Katina Curtis joins our Please Explain podcast today to delve into this question and more here.

Please Explain co-host Bianca Hall.SMH & The Age

4.38pm on May 23, 2022

Victorian Nationals MP calls state Liberal Party an ‘election-losing machine’

By Nigel Gladstone

National Party MP Darren Chester has added his voice to the chorus singing about the failures of the Coalition today, unloading on the Victorian Liberal Party in a Facebook post that described it as an “election-losing machine”.

“Anyone who thinks the result in November [for the Victorian state election] will be any different if they don’t change direction now, is simply kidding themselves,” the Gippsland MP wrote.

“At state level in Victoria, the Coalition has been in opposition for 19 of the past 23 years. As the major partner, the Liberal Party in Victoria is an election-losing machine and anyone who thinks the result in November will be any different if they don’t change direction now, is simply kidding themselves.”

Darren Chester said the teal independents had proved that all politics is local.Alex Ellinghausen

Chester, who has been in parliament since 2008 and was re-elected on Saturday, said female voters told him they didn’t like the Coalition’s leadership team and didn’t believe they were taken seriously on issues that mattered to them.

“When the wealth-belt is prepared to toss out a moderate, experienced and capable Treasurer, for an unproven activist, you need to listen to the message, regardless of how unpalatable it is,” he wrote.

Analysing the National Party results, he said they “need to take some responsibility for the Liberal losses in the city with the more extreme views of some colleagues undoubtedly hurting the chances of our city cousins”.

“It was simple and devastatingly effective to say a vote for those moderate Liberals was a vote for the ‘dinosaurs’ in the Nationals who didn’t believe in climate change,” he said. “Lurching further to the political right is a recipe for irrelevance when you consider Pauline Hanson’s One Nation has never won a seat in the House of Representatives.”

Chester’s message to the teal independents was that they have proven the political truism that all politics is local.

“It’s an honour and a privilege to represent your community, don’t waste the opportunity,” he wrote.

“All the easy stuff in politics has been done, and now the real work begins to deliver for your electorate. It’s probably harder than you think.”

As it happened: Anthony Albanese officially sworn in as PM, to travel to Tokyo for Quad meeting; Dutton to run for Liberal leadership as counting continues in key seats

Key Posts

Today’s headlines at a glance

Latest Posts

New foreign minister promises First Nations foreign policy

Dutton likely to lead opposition, but will he go the way of Brendan Nelson?

Labor election victory welcomed in global climate circles

Rising prices force sudden closure of a major NSW gas wholesaler

Labor leading in 75 seats, one short of outright majority

NSW records second Japanese Encephalitis death

Liberal MP says he will retain Bradfield despite teal challenge

Does the parliament have a mandate to go further on climate action?

Victorian Nationals MP calls state Liberal Party an ‘election-losing machine’

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