A man standing at a lectern.

Incoming prime minister Anthony Albanese. Source: Getty / Lisa Maree Williams

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Politics

Election 2022 as it happened: Anthony Albanese's emotional victory speech, Scott Morrison steps down as party leader

A man standing at a lectern.

Incoming prime minister Anthony Albanese. Source: Getty / Lisa Maree Williams

Published 21 May 2022 5:35pm
Updated 23 May 2022 6:10pm
Source: SBS News

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21 May 2022 10:16pm
Josh Frydenberg faces 'difficult' battle to retain Kooyong
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg is hoping postal votes will get him across the line as he trails independent candidate Monique Ryan in the battle for the inner-east Melbourne seat of Kooyong.

He told supporters just after 10pm on Saturday: "A bit of a different atmosphere to three years ago, but still a lot of shouting! Firstly, as you know, there’s still thousands of postal votes to count.

"So while it’s mathematically possible that we win in Kooyong, it’s definitely difficult."

The Australian Electoral Commission has Mr Frydenberg behind Dr Ryan — 45.5 to 54.5 on a two candidate preferred basis.
Snapshot Kooyong Electorate showing held by Liberals by 6.4% margin at last election
Snapshot of the Kooyong electorate. Credit: SBS News
- David Aidone
21 May 2022 10:08pm
ANALYSIS: The swing is on in the West
- Chief Political Correspondent, Anna Henderson

Labor's been tilling the ground in Western Australia and hoping to gain ground off the back of Mark McGowan's local popularity.

By the looks of the early count, that is paying off.

The Opposition made the unusual decision to hold its election campaign launch early in WA and that shone a spotlight on the state.

Both Anthony Albanese and Scott Morrison courted the local vote by appearing in forums with the West Australian newspaper.

It looks like Swan, Hasluck and Pearce will fall to Labor which means Australia's first Aboriginal minister for Indigenous Australians Ken Wyatt may lose his seat.

The decision by the Liberals to side with Clive Palmer on a challenge to the closed border is often referenced by voters as a big factor in their decision making.

Snapshot of Pearce electorate showing held by Liberals by 5.2% at last election
Snapshot of the Pearce electorate Credit: SBS News
21 May 2022 10:02pm
Gladys Liu arrives at Liberal HQ in Chisholm
Incumbent Liberal MP Gladys Liu has arrived at Liberal headquarters in the marginal Melbourne seat of Chisholm.

The AEC is projecting a 56 per cent two candidate preferred vote for Labor's Carina Garland over Ms Liu on 44 per cent.
Ms Liu holds Chisholm by a margin of 0.5 per cent. The prime minister visited the seat several times during the election campaign but Labor is hoping with that tight margin, it could fall to them.

Snapshot Chisholm electorate showing held by Liberals on 0.5% margin at last election
Snapshot of the Chisholm electorate. Credit: SBS News
21 May 2022 9:56pm
The key moments since vote counting started
As vote counting rolls on, here's a quick recap of what's been happening:
  • Things are not looking good for the Coalition, with Labor making up ground in Victoria and NSW. Early results from South Australia show the Opposition could pick up the seat of Boothby for the first time.
  • But it remains unclear whether Labor will be able to form government in its own right. The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) has Labor leading in 68 seats and close in six, making 74. It needs 76 seats to form government.
  • Victorian independent candidate Zoe Daniel and NSW counterpart Allegra Spender are each set to claim House of Representatives seats.
  • NSW independent candidate Zali Steggall has claimed victory in the seat of Warringah, which was a contest against controversial Liberal Party candidate Katherine Deves.
  • The AEC has independent candidate for the inner-east Melbourne seat of Kooyong, Monique Ryan, ahead of Treasurer Josh Frydenberg on a two candidate preferred basis.
  • Labor's home affairs spokeswoman Kristina Keneally is facing a tight contest in the NSW seat of Fowler, which she was parachuted into. The AEC has independent candidate Dai Le ahead on a two candidate preferred basis.
  • United Australia Party Leader Craig Kelly looks set to lose the NSW seat of Hughes after he defected from the Liberal Party. The Liberal's candidate Jenny Ware is poised to pick this up.
- David Aidone with AAP
21 May 2022 9:51pm
ANALYSIS: The Coalition will now be deeply divided over the management of this election campaign
- Chief Political Correspondent, Anna Henderson

Senior Minister Simon Birmingham has been speaking on ABC News and has attributed Trent Zimmerman's electoral defeat to a "contagion" referencing Warringah.

This has always been the great risk of the strategy of the Prime Minister making a captain's pick with Katherine Deves and giving her a platform to run an agenda on anti-trans issues.

Senator Birmingham says "we need to make sure the party rebuilds the vote in the communities that we clearly lost".

He says issues of climate and gender and equality have resonated.

 
21 May 2022 9:43pm
Independent Zoe Daniel claims victory in Goldstein
Independent Zoe Daniel has claimed victory in the race for Goldstein against Liberal MP Tim Wilson. The seat takes in some of Melbourne's well-heeled bayside suburbs.

The Australian Electoral Commission's two candidate preferred vote has Ms Daniel at 55.7 per cent, compared to Mr Wilson's 44.3 per cent.

Ms Daniel claimed the seat for herself, telling supporters, "what we have achieved here is extraordinary".

"Safe Liberal seat, two-term incumbent, independent!" she said.

"One hundred or so years ago, there was a woman called Vida Goldstein. She was an internationally renowned suffragist. She was the first Australian in the Oval Office. She ran as an independent several times because she was so independent that she couldn’t bring herself to run for either of the major parties. Vida was not elected. This seat is in her name, and today I take her rightful place."

Mr Wilson has not conceded defeat.
21 May 2022 9:41pm
Liberal Senator Simon Birmingham: 'Gender clearly is a factor'
Appearing on the ABC, Liberal Senator Simon Birmingham said that gender was a factor at play in the election results.

"What you are seeing is a pattern tonight. You are seeing Liberal men who, in many cases are ideologically not that different from the women who are replacing them, in these traditionally safe Liberal seats," Senator Birmingham said.

Asked how much the government's relationship with women, particularly in the last year, has affected voting, he said: "I think gender clearly is a factor in this, and it is a factor you could see if you went back to the South Australian state election.
Leader of the Government in the Senate Simon Birmingham
Senator Simon Birmingham. Source: AAP
"Every seat that the Liberal Party lost was lost to a female candidate, and so there is a real challenge there for us to ... Is it time to start preselecting more women? Absolutely. That is a very clear message that the electorate is sending us, but we can't just say that preselecting more women is sufficient."

Currently, Independent Kylea Jane Tink is ahead of Liberal Trent Zimmerman in the seat of North Sydney and Independent candidate Monique Ryan is ahead of Treasurer Josh Frydenberg.
21 May 2022 9:37pm
Labor looks to hold Lingiari following Warren Snowdon's retirement
The hotly contested seat of Lingiari is between Country Liberal Party member Damien Ryan and Labor's Marion Scrymgour after long-standing Federal Labor member Warren Snowdon retires.
Snapshot of Lingiari electorate showing held by ALP by 5.5% at last election
Snapshot of the Lingiari electorate. Credit: SBS News
The current results from AEC for Lingiari is exciting the Labor Party, showing Marion Scrymgour on track for a win in the large Territory electorate. Labor has held the seat, which covers 99 per cent of the Northern Territory, since its creation more than two decades ago.
Lingiari covers the vast majority of the Northern Territory's geography, and 40 per cent of the population is Indigenous.

Marion Scrymgour currently has a projected two candidate preferred vote of over 53 per cent, while Damien Ryan follows with over 46 per cent.

- Monique Pueblos
21 May 2022 9:32pm
Kristina Keneally faces tight contest against independent in Fowler
Labor is currently facing a heavy swing against it in the NSW seat of Fowler, which the party has held since the electoral division's inception in 1984.

Opposition home affairs spokeswoman and former NSW premier Kristina Keneally was parachuted into the seat instead of a local candidate.

The Australian Electoral Commission's two candidate preferred vote has Ms Keneally at 47.6 per cent, and Dai Le — an independent candidate and deputy mayor at Fairfield City Council — at 52.4 per cent.

On first preferences, the swing against the Labor candidate is 17.3 per cent.

"It is not entirely clear yet the result in Fowler," Ms Keneally told supporters just after 9pm on Saturday night.

"I do want to congratulate Dai Le and [Liberal Party candidate] Courtney [Nguyen] on the campaigns that they ran."

- David Aidone
21 May 2022 9:29pm
The differing moods at Labor and Liberal HQs as the results roll in

21 May 2022 9:16pm
Allegra Spender in position to win seat of Wentworth from Liberals
Independent Allegra Spender is mounting a commanding lead against Liberal MP Dave Sharma that could result in her winning the Sydney seat of Wentworth.

Ms Spender’s lead in voting has increased to 57 per cent of the projected two-candidate-preferred vote against the incumbent's 42 per cent.

The result is part of a trend of strong results from independent candidates against Liberals in seats such as Kooyong, Goldstein, Mackellar and North Sydney.
ELECTION22 WENTWORTH
Independent candidate for Wentworth Allegra Spender votes at Double Bay Public School on Federal Election day, in the seat of Wentworth, Sydney. Source: AAP / BIANCA DE MARCHI/AAPIMAGE
21 May 2022 9:16pm
In Bennelong, it's still too close to say
The candidates in the NSW electorate of Bennelong remain in a tight race separated by just one per cent in AEC projections.

Liberal Simon Kennedy has a two candidate preferred vote of 50.5 per cent, while Labor's candidate Jerome Laxale trails closely with 49.5 per cent.

This is Simon Kennedy's first tilt at the seat, after Liberal John Alexander announced his retirement from politics. Before trying his hand at federal politics, Jerome Laxale served as the mayor of Ryde for five years. The Labor Party has only won the seat once in 2007.
21 May 2022 9:04pm
Craig Kelly out: Hughes seat looking safe for Liberal Party
Back to Hughes, the AEC is now projecting a two-candidate preferred vote of 57 per cent for Liberal candidate Jenny Ware. About 80 per cent of votes have been counted in the electorate which has been held by a Liberal candidate since 1996.

Former Liberal turned United Australia Party leader, Craig Kelly
, looks set to be unseated despite winning every election since 2010.

While there is about a 2.7 swing in Labor's favor, the party's candidate Riley Campell sits behind Ms Ware with a two-candidate preferred vote of about 43 per cent.
Member for Hughes Craig Kelly.
Member for Hughes Craig Kelly. Source: AAP
Mr Kelly had won four consecutive elections as a Liberal candidate until this election.

- Michelle Elias
21 May 2022 9:03pm
Corangamite swings in favour of Labor incumbent
The ultra-marginal seat of Corangamite in southern Victoria is under careful watch, but Labor is confident that Libby Coker will be able to secure victory for a second time.

Incumbent MP Libby Coker is ahead in the AEC's projected two candidate preferred vote sitting at 57 per cent ahead of Liberal candidate Stephanie Asher on 42 per cent.

The Coalition believes it has a chance of winning back Corangamite after losing the seat in the 2019 election.

- Monique Pueblos
21 May 2022 9:01pm
Zoe Daniel pulls ahead of Tim Wilson in Goldstein
Former ABC journalist turned independent Zoe Daniel is currently ahead of Liberal MP Tim Wilson in the race for the seat of Goldstein that takes in some of Melbourne's well-heeled bayside suburbs.

The Australian Electoral Commission's two candidate preferred vote has Ms Daniel at 56.7 per cent, compared to Mr Wilson's 43.3 per cent.

Ms Daniel has called for greater action on climate change and also wants an independent federal anti-corruption commission to be established.

Mr Wilson describes himself as a "modern liberal" and has "stood for a strong economy, lower taxes and retirement security".

- David Aidone
21 May 2022 9:00pm
'Isn't it amazing' Zali Steggall delivers victory speech
Independent candidate Zali Steggall has thanked a sea of teal-coloured supporters after surging to victory in her contest against Liberal candidate Katherine Deves for the Sydney seat of Warringah.

Ms Steggall is projected to take out 60 per cent of the two candidate preferred vote against Ms Deves total of 39 per cent.
A graphic showing Zali Steggal beating rival Katherine Deves in the seat of Warringah by a margin of 11 per cent.
Credit: SBS
She declared "isn't it amazing" to a loud cheer from supporters as she delivered her speech, praising their support for her campaign.
The former winter Olympian first joined parliament after unseating former prime minister Tony Abbott in the long held Liberal electorate at the last election in 2019.
21 May 2022 8:51pm
Labor's Andrew Charlton ahead in Parramatta
In the multicultural western Sydney seat of Parramatta, Labor's candidate Andrew Charlton is pulling ahead with about 66 per cent of votes counted.

The projected two candidate preferred count has Mr Charlton at 54.86 per cent, compared to 45.14 per cent for Liberal candidate Maria Kovacic.

Both sides had their sights set on the seat which has been held by retiring Labor MP Julie Owens since 2004. But Prime Minister Scott Morrison, seeing this opening, has made a series of appearances here alongside Ms Kovacic.
Snapshot of the Parramatta electorate showing held by ALP by 3.5% at last election
Snapshot of the Parramatta electorate Credit: SBS News
- Emma Brancatisano
21 May 2022 8:43pm
Alan Tudge facing swing to Labor in fight to retain seat
Liberal MP Alan Tudge is leading in his fight to return to parliament, but faces a swing of up to 7 per cent to the Labor party.

Projections show Mr Tudge is ahead 52 per cent to 47 per cent against Labor's candidate Mary Doyle in their contest for the Melbourne seat of Aston.

Mr Tudge has stayed mostly away from the spotlight of the media as he campaigned to retain his position after stepping aside from the front bench last December.
ALAN TUDGE PRESSER
Alan Tudge. Source: AAP / MICK TSIKAS/AAPIMAGE
The former education minister's decision came following allegations made by his former adviser Rachelle Miller that he was "abusive" during their extramarital relationship.

Mr Tudge has strenuously denied the allegations, and an investigation found there was insufficient evidence Mr Tudge has breached ministerial standards.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison confirmed in May that Mr Tudge would rejoin his cabinet if the government was re-elected.

- Tom Stayner
21 May 2022 8:40pm
The 'psychic' animals were asked to pick a winner, too
While other media outlets and the AEC make their predictions, let's cast our eyes to the hunches of some fauna, shall we?

Rousing heartbreak for some, the Australian Reptile Park's 71-year-old tortoise, Hugo, could not pick a winner. Offered two plates of lettuce with the faces of both leaders atop, he instead walked toward his girlfriend, Estrella.
Tortoise looking at a plate of lettuce with a picture of a man on top.
Hugo, the 71-year-old tortoise, was asked to make his prediction on who will win the federal election. Credit: Australian Reptile Park
The AEC, on its busiest work day, somehow found the time to reply on Twitter: "This is why Australian elections aren’t decided by lovesick tortoises. Our staff focus on counting every ballot paper and absolutely will not be distracted by Hugo’s girlfriend Estrella."

Rumour has it, Pig, the dugong at Sydney Sea Life aquarium, swam toward a red toy signifying a Labor win.

Meanwhile in the Top End, Speckles the 4.7 metre croc was asked to pick between two chunks of meat. Above the string dangling each offering were two images of the two leaders. Mr Albanese was Speckles' pick.

- Michelle Elias
21 May 2022 8:40pm
Marginal Melbourne seat of Chisholm still swinging to Labor
More on Chisholm, the AEC is now projecting a 56 per cent two candidate preferred vote for Labor's Carina Garland over incumbent Liberal member Gladys Liu on 43 per cent.

Chisholm is extremely marginal, one of the most marginal seats in the country, and Gladys Liu holds the seat by a margin of 0.5 per cent.

The Prime Minister came to Chisholm several times during the election campaign but Labor is hoping that with that tight margin that their candidate Carina Garland could take the seat for Labor.

Anthony Albanese also campaigned here in Chisholm a number of times, one of his last stops on the campaign trail was here in Chisholm.

Back in 2019, Gladys Liu took the seat from the Labor candidate and held onto it for the Liberals and the Coalition once again hoping they will be able to hold onto this seat but given that it is such a tight margin, Labor also thinks they are in with a good chance.


- Gloria Kalache & Monique Pueblos
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