Australia’s new leader has promised to steer the country in a new direction, including a significant shift in climate policy.
Anthony Albanese, the opposition centre-left Labor Party’s election winner on Saturday, predicted that Australia could become a renewable energy superpower.
On Monday, he will be sworn in as Prime Minister, but it is unclear whether his party will have a majority in parliament.
After three years of record-breaking bushfires and floods, voters were particularly concerned about climate change.
After conceding, outgoing Prime Minister Scott Morrison, the leader of the defunct Liberal-National coalition, thanked the “miracle of the Australian people.”
Vote counting is still ongoing, and he is still a few seats short of the 76 required by Labor to secure a majority in the 151-member lower house.
The final results may not be known for several days because election officials have only recently begun counting nearly three million postal votes.
If the election results in a hung parliament, Greens and independents who have been campaigning for radical climate change action may have more clout in shaping the new government’s policies on the issue.
