Albanese elected Australia’s leader in complex poll result

SYDNEY — Australians awoke on Sunday to a new prime minister in Anthony Albanese, the center-left Labor Party leader whose ascension to the nation’s top job from being raised in social housing by a single mother on a disability pension was said to reflect the country’s changed fabric. “It says a lot about our great country that a son of a single mom who was a disability pensioner, who grew up in public housing down the road in Camperdown, can stand before you tonight as Australia’s prime minister,” Albanese told jubilant supporters after tipping Scott Morrison out of office to end nine years of conservative rule. Biden congratulated Albanese on his election victory in a phone call Sunday, the White House said, and reaffirmed Washington’s “steadfast commitment to the U.S-Australia alliance and his intent to work closely with the new government to make it stronger still.” Australian National University constitutional law expert professor Donald Rothwell said that Australia’s governor general, the representative of the country’s ultimate head of state, Queen Elizabeth II, would “only be prepared to swear in Albanese as ‘Acting PM’ until such time as the results are much clearer.” Albanese, speaking to reporters on Sunday morning, merely said he would be among “five people who’ll be sworn in tomorrow ” before attending the Quad meeting, then returning to Australia on Wednesday when “we’ll get down to business.” The four colleagues he mentioned included lawmakers set to step into key financial portfolios and his deputy leader. Albanese vowed to bring Australians together, increase investment in social services and “end the climate wars.” Speaking to reporters while walking his dog in his electorate on Sunday morning, he evoked a more cooperative approach to parliamentary business — possibly unavoidable if Labor cannot form a majority government — and described his victory as “a really big moment.” “It’s something that’s a big moment in my life, but what I want it to be is a big moment for the country,” he said.