Australian Voters Return Labor to Power After 9 Years in Opposition

Voters in Australia have elected a new government by tossing out the Liberal-National coalition which had been governing the country since 2013 in favor of the Labor Party led by Anthony Albanese. Scott Morrison, who had been Prime Minister since 2018, promptly announced he was stepping down as leader of Australia's Liberal Party.

Labor last governed Australia between 2007 and 2013. Their tenure was marred by the seemingly never ending feud between Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard. While Rudd ended more than a decade of Liberal-National rule by John Howard, the Labor Party caucus would oust him in favor of Julia Gillard in June 2010. Three years later, Labor would reverse course and oust Gillard in favor of Rudd.

Months later, Rudd lost the general election to the Liberals now led by Tony Abbott. However, the Liberal-National tenure was every bit as chaotic with Liberals ousting Abbott in favor of Malcolm Turnbull two years into his term. While Turnbull was elected in his own right in 2016, he survived one leadership spill before being ousted by Morrison in 2018. 

To the surprise of many, voters stuck with the Liberal-National coalition in 2019. However, Morrison's leadership style alienated as many Liberals as had Abbott and Turnbull. However, Morrison changed the rules to increase the threshold for future leadership spills. While Morrison won praise for his handling of COVID, he did not do well where it concerned natural disasters such as the brush fires as well as flooding in Eastern Australia. This made climate change a significant issue in the election. It also didn't help Morrison's reputation when he reneged on the submarine deal with France after signing a new pact with the U.S. and U.K. with French President Macron openly questioning Morrison's honesty. I will say this about Morrison. He lost, conceded the election and congratulated Albanese. Something Trump could never do for President Biden.

Of course, it very much remains to be seen if Albanese can lead a stable government through a full term. At this point, it isn't clear if Labor will get an outright majority or will have to depend on the Greens for support. But what is clear is that democracy in Australia is still going strong.