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Wednesday, April 24, 2024

Anthony Albanese confident as Labor eyes majority

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is confident Labor will take Parliament House with a 76-seat majority even as the Greens pick up a fourth lower house seat.

Mr Albanese dubbed the election an “outstanding result” for Labor as he welcomed MP-elect for Bennelong, Jerome Laxale, to the party fold.

“We have increased our representation in parliament substantially,” Mr Albanese said on Saturday.

Labor so far has secured 75 seats, one shy of a majority and the same number the previous coalition government had.

The Greens have now secured four seats with the latest addition of their Brisbane candidate Stephen Bates, while the coalition has at least 57.

Both major parties have seen a record low primary vote, something Mr Albanese partly attributed to people in blue ribbon seats voting for independent candidates over Labor.

“We have a preferential system, people understand it and some of this analysis is rather strange,” he said.

Mr Albanese also vowed to stay in touch with “real people” by continuing to participate in community life as much as possible.

“I want to keep it real,” he said.

The prime minister pointed to his morning at Marrickville Tennis Club where he was “just Albo at the tennis club”.

Labor is on a knife-edge in a handful of seats: Deakin and Macnamara in Victoria and Gilmore in NSW.

Liberal MP Michael Sukkar is 655 votes ahead of Labor’s candidate Matt Gregg in Deakin, which has recorded a roughly 4 per cent swing to Labor.

Liberal candidate Andrew Constance is 214 votes ahead of sitting Labor MP Fiona Phillips in the NSW electorate of Gilmore, with postal votes slightly favouring Mr Constance.

The Australian Electoral Commission on Friday released new data showing an unusual three-candidate preferred status in Macnamara in Victoria, which still remains in doubt. 

In Macnamara, incumbent Labor MP Josh Burns has taken a slight lead over his Greens rival Steph Hodgins-May with Liberal candidate Colleen Harkin trailing.

Back in Bennelong, Mr Laxale pipped the Liberal candidate Simon Kennedy in former prime minister John Howard’s seat.

“We knew it would be very difficult for Labor to win in Bennelong, we put up a really good challenge here,” Mr Laxale said.

“Winning Bennelong means we’re that much closer to majority government.

By Phoebe Loomes, Tess Ikonomou and Finbar O’Mallon in Canberra

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