Anthony Albanese has been sworn in as the 31st prime minister of Australia alongside several new senior ministers as Labor officially takes government.
Labor Senator Penny Wong was sworn in as foreign minister, Richard Marles as deputy prime minister, Jim Chalmers as treasurer, and Katy Gallagher as finance minister.
They will divide the ministerial portfolios between them before the incoming Labor government’s full ministry is sworn in later this month.
Albanese and Wong are then set to travel to a meeting of the Quad security organisation on Tuesday, where they will meet with US President Joe Biden, India Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and Japan Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, in Tokyo.
“The (Quad security) meetings that we will have, not just with the United States, but importantly with our hosts in Japan and India are going to be very important, in a good way, to send a message to the world that there’s a new government in Australia and it’s a government that represents a change, in terms of the way that we deal with the world on issues like climate change but also a continuity in the way that we have respect for democracy and the way that we value our friendships and long time alliances,” Albanese said in his first press conference as prime minister before the flight.
The timing of the meeting is behind the rapid swearing-in, which will constitute one of the swiftest changes of government in Australia’s history.
(09 News)
