Explained | Poll promises that brought Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to power

Australia’s newly elected Prime Minister Anthony Albanese promised many ‘firsts’, including greater representation for women and indigenous people. What particularly worked were his assertions of ensuring ‘full employment’, upscaling health access and combating climate change

The story so far: Australia’s first ‘non-Anglo Celtic’ Labour Party leader Anthony Albanese assumed the Prime Minister’s office on Monday, bringing an end to the nine-year rule of Scott Morrison’s Liberal Party-led coalition. Following the electoral victory, he said, “Thank you for this extraordinary honour, tonight the Australian people have voted for change.” 

During his campaign, the Member of Parliament had touched upon issues pertaining to climate change, improving social services, integration of communities and tackling corruption. Particularly noteworthy was Mr. Albanese’s commitment to adopt the ‘Uluru Statement from the Heart’ in full. He opened his victory speech acknowledging the “traditional owners of the land on which we meet”.

The Uluru statement, signed by representatives of varied indigenous groups in 2017, sought constitutional reforms to empower the First Peoples of Australia. Mr. Albanese spoke about bringing in a referendum to create an indigenous advisory body to the federal parliament to make their voices heard.

The Labor Party also affirmed its commitment to establish the long-pending anti-corruption regulator, ‘Integrity Commission’, that was first announced in December 2018. Its plan involves instituting a National Anti-Corruption Commission which would be in stark contrast to the “universally condemned model for an integrity commission”.  

Mr. Albanese’s stance on ending ‘climate wars’, upscaling health access, ensuring ‘full employment’, gender parity at workplaces and reducing the cost of living reportedly found a lot of takers. Some of them were a noticeable departure from the policies of the outgoing Coalition. 

Mr. Albanese has often talked about his early years, living in public housing with his single mother, who was on a disability pension. “It’s where I learned the value of community, the value of a dollar and the value of holding no one back and leaving no one behind,” he said.  

During his campaign, the Labor leader said many parents were forced to resign from their jobs or were unable to put in extra hours because of an unreliable child care system and expensive early learning. This, he says, results in children either missing out on important early learning and/or women being unable to work.