Anthony Albanese promises ‘disciplined’ government as he celebrates big election win by getting back to work

Anthony Albanese allowed himself a coffee and a brewery visit — after five months dry for the campaign — then got straight back to work on Sunday after his thumping election victory, promising a “disciplined, orderly government”. Ministers and caucus members said the Prime Minister would have even more authority to steer the party after he became just the third Labor leader to win a second term and the first prime minister to win back-to-back elections since 2004. Mr Albanese returned to an Italian cafe in Leichhardt in his seat of Grayndler, which he used to go to as a boy with his mother, to catch up with long-time friends and supporters the morning after the election. Later in the day, he headed to the brewery that makes the Albo pale ale jubilant Labor supporters drunk by the carton-load at their victory party on Saturday night. Despite the celebrations, Mr Albanese said he was feeling very positive but not getting carried away and intended to head back to Canberra to get to work quickly. “I was always pretty, pretty positive about an outcome, and I knew that we had a positive agenda … and I think that the other side had a plan for higher taxes, higher deficits for two years and just cuts,” he said. “The Australian people voted for unity rather than division.” His work agenda include fielding calls and messages from world leaders such as Keir Starmer, Emmanuel Macron, Volodymyr Zelensky and Prabowo Subianto. Labor has won at least 85 seats and is leading in the count in another eight, making it the party’s biggest victory since Bob Hawke won 86 seats in 1987. Nationally, the party garnered a swing of 2.7 per cent towards it but this was higher in its held and target seats. Treasurer Jim Chalmers said the result was “history-making” and “beyond even our most optimistic expectations”. “This victory does come as well with healthy helpings of humility as well because we know that there are a lot of challenges to address in our economy and more broadly we know that people are under pressure,” he said. “The way that I see the scale of this win … there was a real kind of darkness at the heart of the Coalition campaign, this kind of backward-looking pessimism which Australians rejected. “And in rejecting that, I think they embraced the kind of leadership that Anthony Albanese provides which is practical, pragmatic, it’s problem solving, and it’s very forward-looking, and that’s the approach that we’ll take.” Many others in the party said while they had expected to win a majority, they had not anticipated the scale of it. Mr Albanese put the results down to hard work, citing the example of Jerome Laxale, who joined his boss for coffee at the Bar Italia. The Bennelong MP increased his margin despite his seat becoming notionally Liberal after the boundaries were redrawn. “He just put his head down, did the work and didn’t complain about that bit of a rough deal when you win a seat and then it gets turned back the other way,” Mr Albanese said. “That’s the sort of discipline that our team showed. “We will be a disciplined, orderly government in our second term, just like we have been in our first. “We’ve been given the great honour of serving the Australian people. And we don’t take it for granted and we’ll work hard each and every day.” Conversely, Liberals were blindsided that so many polls, including their internal numbers, were been so wrong after weeks of predictions of a hung Parliament. Opposition MPs are bracing for days of recriminations and finger-pointing after the Coalition lost 15 seats, almost half of them from Queensland, including leader Peter Dutton’s Dickson electorate. One said the team was shellshocked and it was hard to even call a party room meeting given they had lost both their leader and their whip. On the Labor side, thoughts are turning to what could be done with the political capital built up with Australians who have shown their faith in Mr Albanese’s agenda. Dr Chalmers – who had a briefing with Treasury secretary Steven Kennedy at 6.45am on Sunday – said he intended to take a sharper focus on productivity in terms of human capital, competition policy, technology, energy and the care economy. “We have a big agenda, we’re looking forward to implementing it with confidence, with the confidence that comes from a big majority, a substantial majority in the House of Representatives,” he said. Multiple frontbenchers who spoke with The West Australian agreed the Prime Minister had considerable authority now within the party. One said Mr Albanese should take the time to have a think about how he wanted to spend his gains. They cautioned he had to avoid the problem the Government fell into at the start of the previous term of doing too much all at once, then ending up with only the difficult things to prosecute towards the end of the three years. Another said they didn’t think Mr Albanese would do “radical stuff” but the increased majority would give Labor the ability to govern with more confidence. “We have a clear opportunity to lock in a long-term Labor government provided we remain humble and grounded,” cabinet minister Murray Watt said. Mr Albanese is expected to head back to Canberra as soon as Monday and tipped to bring caucus together towards the end of the week or early next to decide the ministry makeup and celebrate its many new members.