Australia’s government will prioritise dealing with the “dark shadow” of the US-China trade war following its resounding reelection victory, treasurer Jim Chalmers said on Sunday, after a campaign that highlighted concerns over US trade policy and the global economy.
Anthony Albanese claimed victory as the first Australian prime minister to clinch a second consecutive term in 21 years on Saturday and suggested his government had increased its majority by not modelling itself on US president Donald Trump’s administration.
“Australians have chosen to face global challenges the Australian way, looking after each other while building for the future,” Mr Albanese told supporters in a victory speech in Sydney.
“We do not need to beg or borrow or copy from anywhere else. We do not seek our inspiration overseas. We find it right here in our values and in our people,” he added.
“The immediate focus is on global economic uncertainty, US and China, and what it means for us,” Mr Chalmers told the Australian Broadcasting Corp.
“What’s happening, particularly between the US and China, does cast a dark shadow over the global economy … We need to have the ability, and we will have the ability, to manage that uncertainty.”
Former conservative member of parliament Keith Wolahan, who conceded his seat at the election, told the ABC his party had misread the public mood.
“It was clear that our party has an issue in urban Australia, which is where most people live,” he said.
“We need to really dig deep and think about who we are and who we fight for and who makes up Australia,” Wolahan added.
Mr Albanese’s centre-left Labor Party had branded Albanese’s rival Peter Dutton, the opposition leader, “DOGE-y Dutton” and accused his conservative Liberal Party of mimicking Mr Trump and his Department of Government Efficiency.
Mr Dutton had earlier conceded his alliance of conservative parties had been defeated at the election and that he had lost his own parliamentary seat that he had held for 24 years.
Mr Dutton’s plight parallels that of Canada’s opposition leader, Pierre Poilievre, who lost his seat after Mr Trump declared economic war on the US neighbour to the north. Mr Poilievre had previously been regarded as a shoo-in to become Canada’s next prime minister and shepherd his Conservative Party back into power for the first time in a decade.
Analysts argue that mirroring Mr Trump switched from a political positive for Australian conservatives to a negative after Mr Trump imposed global tariffs.
Trumpet of Patriots, a minor party inspired by Mr Trump policies with an advertising budget funded by mining magnate Clive Palmer that eclipsed the major parties, attracted only 2 per cent of the vote.
