Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Newcastle Herald
Newcastle Herald
National

New era of Australian politics as Labor enters Parliament House in government | GALLERY

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. Picture: Elesa Kurtz
Picture: Elesa Kurtz
Lisa Chesters and Susan Templeman drags new speaker, Milton Dick to the speaker's seat. Picture: Elesa Kurtz
Paul Girrawah House, Indigenous man with various Canberra region connections.Picture: Elesa Kurtz
The 47th parliament gathered at the Australian War Memorial for a Last Post Ceremony. Opposition leader Peter Dutton and Prime Minister of Australia Anthony Albanese lay a wreath. Picture: Keegan Carroll
Senator Jana Stewart. Picture: Elesa Kurtz
The 47th parliament gathered at the Australian War Memorial for a Last Post Ceremony. Opposition leader Peter Dutton, Director of the Australian War Memorial Matt Anderson and Prime Minister of Australia Anthony Albanese. Picture: Keegan Carroll
The 47th parliament gathered at the Australian War Memorial for a Last Post Ceremony. Australian businessman Kerry Stokes, Opposition leader Peter Dutton, Director of the Australian War Memorial Matt Anderson, Prime Minister of Australia Anthony Albanese, Former Director of the Australian War Memorial Brendan Nelson and Former Prime Minister John Howard. Picture: Keegan Carroll
Environmental activist and Senator David Pocock talking with One Nation Senator Malcolm Roberts - a climate change sceptic - with Senator Pauline Hanson. Picture: Elesa Kurtz
     Indigenous performers. Picture: Elesa Kurtz
The 47th parliament gathered at the Australian War Memorial for a Last Post Ceremony. Picture: Keegan Carroll
Opening of the Parliament. Bob Katter. Picture: Elesa Kurtz
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at the war memorial. Picture: Keegan Carroll
The 47th parliament gathered at the Australian War Memorial for a Last Post Ceremony. Jim Molan. Picture: Keegan Carroll
Opposition leader Peter Dutton. Picture: Keegan Carroll
Picture: Keegan Carroll
     Bridget Archer. Picture: Elesa Kurtz
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. Picture: Elesa Kurtz
     Aunty Matilda House in white. Picture: Elesa Kurtz
Swearing in of senators, David Pocock and Katy Gallagher. Picture: Elesa Kurtz
Senator Pauline Hanson. Picture: Elesa Kurtz
Happy chats in the Senate. Picture: Elesa Kurtz
Picture: Elesa Kurtz
Senator Penny Wong. Picture: Elesa Kurtz
At the war memorial. Deputy Opposition leader and leader of the Nationals David Littleproud. Picture: Keegan Carroll     
A former Liberal PM, John Howard, with new Labor PM Anthony Albanese. Picture: Keegan Carroll     

IT was another Labor prime minister, Paul Keating, who said in his final year in the job in 1996 that "when you change the government, you change the country".

Australia has changed the colour of its governments just eight times since the end of World War II. We've had twice as many PMs in that time, and from Kevin Rudd onwards, the job has been something of a revolving door.

In Anthony Albanese, Australia has a prime minister who has proudly clawed his way to the top job in the land from the distant anonymity of public housing - and who will have to fight every day of his political life against a Liberal-led opposition whose members are convinced that they, as the representatives of capital, are the "natural" parties of government in this country.

The track record, measured in years, shows the Coalition has spent more time in power than Labor in the post-war period, but the gap is much less in the years since Gough Whitlam ended 23 years of conservative rule in 1972.

The Whitlam government changed Australia like perhaps no other, but its faults still stand as sentinel warnings in the corridors of power.

Mr Albanese proudly evokes Whitlam minister Tom Uren as a key mentor, and "Albo" arrives at The Lodge with a deep and profound attachment to traditional Labor values, leavened with a genuine understanding of - and empathy with - the "new" politics of gender, the environment and individual aspiration.

On the back of this aspiration, the Morrison government had hoped to flip at least one Hunter seat to the blue camp, but failed.

PARLIAMENTARY PROCEEDINGS:

The Hunter stayed resolutely red and will look to its four Labor MPs - Pat Conroy, in the outer ministry, Sharon Claydon, elected deputy speaker yesterday afternoon, and backbenchers Meryl Swanson and the newly elected Dan Repacholi - to represent the region, and to show the sceptics that swinging seats are not the only electorates to receive government attention.

The government has unveiled an ambitious agenda for change, but nothing will be more important than the bill to legislate a 43 per cent carbon emissions reduction by 2030.

Politics runs on compromise and the Greens - who rejected the Rudd government's carbon pollution reduction scheme in 2009 - must respect Labor's mandate this time around.

CEREMONIAL: Members of both houses of Australia's 47th parliament gathered in Canberra yesterday. Picture: Elesa Kurtz

ISSUE: 39,932

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.