Praise from Donald Trump caps off Australia PM’s ‘miracle’ election win

Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Sunday basked in the glow of a “miracle” election victory that sparked praise from the US president, soul searching on the left and speculation about what policies he will pursue. Morrison’s Liberal-National coalition bucked the polls to secure a victory for the ages, but it remained unclear if he would garner enough votes to have a parliamentary majority or need to govern with the help of independents. The coalition has won or is leading in 76 seats, the number needed to form a majority government, according to the Australian Electoral Commission. Slightly more than three-quarters of the roughly 17 million votes have been counted. A jubilant Morrison hugged community members after an early Sunday service at the Horizon Church in Sydney’s southern suburbs, from where he was first elected to parliament in 2007. “You don’t get to be a prime minister and serve in that capacity unless you first are a member of your local electorate,” he said. Morrison told raucously cheering supporters late on Saturday, who had earlier seemed resigned to defeat, that he had always believed in miracles. The result drew comparisons with Republican Donald Trump’s victory over Democratic rival Hillary Clinton in the 2016 US presidential election. Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu were among the first world leaders to congratulate Morrison. “Congratulations to Scott on a GREAT WIN,” Trump said on Twitter before calling the Australian leader. Congratulations to Scott on a GREAT WIN! https://t.co/IKxDrQmHfV — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 18, 2019 Opinion polls in Australia had all pointed to a Labor victory. So strong was the expectation the government would fall that one betting agency even paid out bets on a Labor win days before the election. Morrison, who emerged as an unlikely leader after Liberal Party infighting last year, cast himself as the candidate who would work for aspirational voters and the tactic seemed to strike a chord. Despite his high political stock, Morrison may face a rocky three-year term. First, he will have to contend with a challenging economic outlook and figure out how to pay for a budget based on improbable growth forecasts. After almost three decades of robust economic growth, Australia’s economy is showing signs of stalling. The central bank is widely expected to cut interest rates when it meets next month, in a bid to counter a housing market dip, stagnant wages and a weakening labour market. Morrison finds himself in the unusual position of having made few promises to the electorate beyond extending tax cuts. His campaign was relentless and disciplined – appearing on the stump before voters day-after-day to warn that the main opposition Labor Party would tax voters into oblivion and that its chief, former trade union leader Bill Shorten, could not be trusted. Late former Australian prime minister Bob Hawke noted for role in forging closer ties between Beijing and Canberra Enough Australians agreed, offering a clear rebuke of Shorten and his policies. But it is less clear what they voted for. In coal-rich Queensland, voters backed new mining projects that would bring jobs, but which are fiercely opposed in much of the rest of the country. Inside the vanquished Labor Party, Shorten’s defeat and quick resignation prompted an immediate jockeying for leadership, with several party stalwarts set to throw their hats in the ring. Deputy leader Tanya Plibersek and popular Sydney-based lawmaker Anthony Albanese said they were considering running for the party’s leadership. In other notable election outcomes, former Liberal Prime Minister Tony Abbott was emphatically dumped from his Sydney seat by independent Zali Steggall. And the maverick senator who blamed the slaughter of 51 worshippers in two New Zealand mosques on the country’s immigration policies also lost his bid for election. The Chinese-Australian community’s votes are a hot ticket, so why are politicians keeping them at arm’s length? Fraser Anning was the target of widespread condemnation for railing against Muslim immigration within hours of the mass shootings in the New Zealand city of Christchurch in March. He faced more criticism later for physically striking a teenage protester who cracked a raw egg on his head and was censured by the Senate. At least one other group was also licking their wounds. Usually reliable pollsters had spectacularly failed to predict the election outcome and will be picking over the numbers for days and weeks to come to see what went wrong. Agence France-Presse, Reuters, Associated Press

Praise from Donald Trump caps off Australia PM’s ‘miracle’ election win

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;}Scott Morrison defies odds to score improbable election win The opposition Labor Party begins another bout of post-election soul searching

Scott Morrison defies odds to score improbable election win

The opposition Labor Party begins another bout of post-election soul searching