Prime Minister Anthony Albanese seems ready to form a majority Labor government.
The ABC election computer predicts that Labor will have at least 76 seats, the minimum needed to form a majority government.
The ABC is projecting that Labor will secure Macnamara’s seat in Melbourne with the re-election of MP Josh Burns.
Burns defeated Liberal Party candidate Colleen Harkin by a two-game preference, but faced a strong challenge from Steph Hodgins-May of the Greens, who finished second in first preference.
The seats of Deakin and Gilmore remain in doubt.
Albanese was sworn in last week after it became clear that Labor would rule in the majority or in the minority.
He was able to assure the governor general that Labor was the only major party capable of forming a stable government, which allowed him to go to Tokyo for a meeting with world leaders.
Given that the Coalition was so lagging behind in terms of seat counting, having lost seats in the center to the Teal Independents, it was virtually impossible for the Coalition to use the bench to form a minority government.
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Labor will have to provide a spokesman for the House of Representatives, removing a vote from their side of the aisle. But the president has a quality vote in the event of a rare tie.
The new government is confident that it could have passed legislation in the lower house without a majority, given the size of the cross-bank.
Macnamara Labor member Josh Burns has been re-elected after a tight tally. (ABC News: Nick Haggarty)
The Cross Bank will have 16 members, with an ideological spectrum ranging from Queenslander Bob Katter on the right to Greens on the left.
It is likely, sources have suggested, that the new government will reach agreements with the Greens, Independents and Greens to strengthen the passage of its legislation.
The latest Senate results show that Labor will need the Greens, and potentially Tasmanian Jacqui Lambie or incoming ACT Senator David Pocock, to pass legislation.
Labor still needs to find a new deputy leader in the Senate to replace Kristina Keneally, who failed in her attempt to move to the lower house.
There is pressure on the right-wing faction to present a woman to ensure that the leadership of the upper and lower chambers is gender balanced.
But that will have implications for Albanese’s cabinet because there are no women on the right-wing faction on the first bench in the Senate, now that Ms. Keneally has disappeared.
Kristina Keneally failed to win Fowler’s previously safe seat. (AAP: James Ross)
The Labor caucus will determine who will serve in the cabinet when it meets on Tuesday.
The proportion of left and right members in the front seat will be determined by how many seats each faction wins.
The party is also under pressure to reward Western Australia, which sealed Labor’s victory.
Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to search, up and down arrows for volume. Sussan Ley says his party is determined to regain the confidence of women.
Albanese is also willing to ensure that his cabinet has gender parity, to reflect the ranks of Labor.
The Liberal and National parties met on Monday and elected new leaders.
Former Defense Minister Peter Dutton became the unopposed leader, with former Environment Minister Sussan Ley as his deputy.
National Deputy David Littleproud replaced Barnaby Joyce as leader, with Senator Perin Davey as his deputy.
The new bench in front of Mr. Albanese will be sworn in on Wednesday.
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Posted 30 minutes ago 30 minutes ago, Monday, May 30, 2022 at 9:32 AM, updated 8 minutes ago, 8 minutes ago, Monday, May 30, 2022 at 9:54 AM