Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has used his first speech in front of his parliamentary colleagues to pledge that his government will do politics in a different, less divisive, way.
Mr Albanese was welcomed by the Labor caucus — which is the meeting of the Labor members of parliament — with cheers and applause, and choked back tears as he finished his speech by thanking his team for the "incredible honour" of being Prime Minister, saying it was "a big deal".
His speech also canvassed the success of the party's campaign, his vision for the next three years and his hope for re-election after that, but he did not reveal who would take what role in his ministry.
The government's frontbench will be officially sworn in on Wednesday morning.
The Prime Minister said he was serious about how the party would go about governing and implementing the policies it promised.
"We have an opportunity to shape the future from this position," he said.
"We need to be prepared to reach out. We need to be prepared to engage on those issues. We can do that in this parliament."
Mr Albanese went on to say that reaching out needed to involve all Australians including multicultural communities, people of faith and the LGBTIQ community.
He said the election result was a rejection of the previous government's attempt to "wedge people" and cause division.
"We saw that during the election campaign, whereby some very vulnerable people were singled out … adding to their vilification," he said.
"We're a better country than that. We shouldn't do that ever. Ever."
The caucus meeting was also the first for a raft of new MPs, including a number from Western Australia where Labor experienced a significant swing toward it.
Mr Albanese used the opportunity to pay tribute to former senator Kristina Keneally and former shadow environment minister Terri Butler who both lost their seats at the election.
He also announced that parliament would return in the last week of July and that he would travel to Indonesia this Sunday.
