Labor is not yet ready to claim a majority government victory but there is a “strong and credible path”, senior figures say.
While a number of lower house seats are still to be confirmed, incoming finance minister Katy Gallagher, set to be sworn in at Government House on Monday morning, is quietly confident Labor will reach a majority.
“We’re hopeful for a majority government but there’s more votes to be counted. That’s the reality. We’ve got a few more days to go,” she told ABC News Breakfast on Monday.
“There’s certainly a strong and credible path to a majority for us.”
A swathe of incoming independents are expected to make a crossbench of at least 15 members.
Regardless of the make up of parliament, prime minister-elect Anthony Albanese will work with the crossbench to bring the country together, Senator Gallagher said.
“We’re going to have a bigger crossbench without a doubt and Anthony is exactly the type of prime minister who has the skills and strength to deal with that,” she told ABC Radio National.
“The people of Australia voted for change on the weekend, not just in terms of government, they voted in terms of change about how they want to see the parliament work and Anthony’s just the right guy for the job to deal with that.”
Less than 48 hours after the federal election, work has already started to audit the existing budget and find instances of waste, incoming treasurer Jim Chalmers says.
He expects to deliver Labor’s first budget in nine years at the end of October.
“This is probably the trickiest set of economic conditions that a new government and new treasurer has inherited,” he told Sky News.
A third of voters supported a minor party with their first preference, and senior Labor figure Tanya Plibersek said the incoming government would learn from the recent campaign to address voter dissatisfaction.
Ms Plibersek, expected to take on the education portfolio, told the Seven Network that once the dust had settled after the election Labor needed to have a close look at why people were turning away from the major parties.
