Twitter
Advertisement

Who is Anthony Albanese, Australia's new Prime Minister

Albanese entered parliament in 1996. He worked as New South Wales Labor's assistant general secretary for 6 yrs then got elected to federal parliament

Latest News
article-main
(Image Source: ANI)
FacebookTwitterWhatsappLinkedin

Anthony Albanese was sworn in as Australia's 31st Prime Minister in a short ceremony in Canberra today. He took oath of the office with a promise of swift action on climate change, greater gender equality and improved wage growth.

Anthony Albanese's Labor Party defeated the ruling coalition led by Scott Morrison in Australia federal elections 2022 on Saturday. Anthony Albanese is a pragmatic leader from a working-class background who has pledged to end divisions in the country. To form a majority government, a party needs to win more than half of the 151 seats in the House of Representatives. 

Read | Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison concedes defeat in election

Who is Anthony Albanese?

Anthony Albanese, 59, entered parliament in 1996, just as Labor entered the first of two decade-long patches in opposition. From 2007 to 2013, Labor party's tenure was marred by leadership squabbles in which he openly criticised both sides. Those years forged his reputation as a collaborator willing to work outside ideological lines, as Leader of the House where he managed government business in the parliament.

After losses in the 2010 election, Labor was saddled with the country's first minority government in 70 years, requiring it to win support from conservatives or independents to pass laws. To him goes the credict for leading the Labor party into government after nine years in opposition, breaking a streak of three straight election losses for the centre-left political organisation.

Albanese was a regular on TV panels, sparring with Liberal opponents and even guest-hosting popular music video program Rage.

Anthony Albanese lived with his mother Maryanne in the Sydney suburb of Camperdown in public housing. His mother was a disability pensioner with rheumatoid arthritis that he said crippled her joints. "We didn't have much but we had each other. And that was enough," Albanese has often said. His mother died in 2001.

Albanese worked as New South Wales Labor's assistant general secretary for six years in the 1990s before being elected to federal parliament. He was a progressive voice for LGBTQ+ rights and campaigned for equal rights for same-sex couples.

He rose up the ranks under Labor leaders Kim Beazley and Simon Crean in the late 1990s and early 2000s, before becoming minister for transport and infrastructure following Kevin Rudd's 2007 election win. Albanese also held the key position of leader of the House following the 2010 hung parliament under Julia Gillard.

Under Rudd's second government, Albanese became deputy leader of the party, and therefore deputy PM. It would be a brief tenure, with Rudd lasting just months before Labor lost the 2013 election.

Anthony Albanese and India

Anthony Albanese has had longstanding ties with India. The new Australian Prime Minister travelled in India as a backpacker in 1991 and had led a parliamentary delegation to New Delhi in 2018. The Australian High Commissioner to India, Barry O'Farrell tweeted and gave this information.

The High Commissioner tweeted that Albanese in his election campaign had committed to deepen economic, strategic and people-to-people links between the two countries.

Anthony Albanese today is travelling to Tokyo for a meeting of the Quad group. He earlier said, "The first thing I will be doing is meeting with our allies. Meeting with President Biden, meeting with Prime Minister Kishida, meeting with PM Narendra Modi next week, that is my priority."

The Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) is a strategic and security forum of Australia, India, Japan, and the United States that was initiated in 2007.

India's Foreign Secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra said that a meeting with the new PM is expected to take place at the Quad summit. "India, Australia strategic partnership has bipartisan support and the discussion between the two leaders will be forward leaning and how to build on it further," he said.

Find your daily dose of news & explainers in your WhatsApp. Stay updated, Stay informed-  Follow DNA on WhatsApp.
Advertisement

Live tv

Advertisement
Advertisement