Australia is on the other side of the world from Canada, and yet they face very similar issues.
Cost of living, a battered public healthcare system, a controversial nuclear power scheme, and unaffordable housing were key issues in the Australian election, as was an unpredictable Trump presidency and the worldwide threats to global security he imposes.
Dan Jervis-Bardy, The Guardian »
Anthony Albanese has secured a stunning federal election win while delivering a devastating result for the Coalition that cost Peter Dutton his own seat.
As counting continued on Saturday night, Labor secured an improved majority with Albanese becoming the first prime minister to win a second term since John Howard in 2004.
Ahead in the polls just months ago, the Coalition suffered a collapse in support amid policy confusion, damaging comparisons with the US president, Donald Trump, and Labor’s attacks on its proposed nuclear reactors and supposed plan to gut Medicare.
Albanese, 62, has pitched himself as a steady hand to guide Australia through a period of global turbulence turbocharged by Trump’s tariff war.
BBC » It’s quite a remarkable turnaround from the start of the year, when polling put PM Anthony Albanese’s popularity at record lows after three years of global economic pain, tense national debate, and growing government dissatisfaction.
“Dutton entered the campaign [year] in front. It was his to lose,” one political expert told me earlier today.
At this point of the evening, it’s hard to imagine a more emphatic rejection of Peter Dutton’s Liberal-National coalition than has played out.
He has lost the election, with massive swings away from his party right around the country.
And he has lost his own seat.
First Canada, Now Australia: The Trump Factor Boosts Another World Leader in an Election (WSJ)
The election is the latest snapshot of how voters are reacting to a shifting world order as President Trump targets countries with tariffs, pivots toward Russia and uses harsh rhetoric about Washington’s traditional allies. Polls show voters in Australia, Canada, and the U.K. view Washington more unfavorably since Trump took office.
Earlier this week, Canadians gave the left-leaning Liberal Party a fourth term in office, even though the party was trailing badly in the polls at the start of the year. Canadians embraced the tough-talking approach of Prime Minister Mark Carney, a former central banker, while shying away from the conservative candidate, Pierre Poilievre, who was viewed as being too similar to Trump.
