After nine years since a Labor prime minister has been voted in, Anthony Albanese wasted no time in making changes.
Key points
- The Canberra press gallery saw the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags being installed behind the podium alongside the Australian flag for the first time.
- He spoke to the UK’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson about “the strength of Australia’s close relationship with the United Kingdom”, where they discuss their shared commitment to AUKUS.
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It has been nine years since a Labor prime minister took residence in the Lodge, and Anthony Albanese wasted no time in making changes.
There were fears during the election campaign that there would be a hung parliament and a protracted wait to see who would form government.
However, the Labor is surging towards a majority government with a clear mandate to rule meaning Mr Albanese has license to put his stamp on things.
While he had to pack his suitcase to jet off to Japan for a Quad meeting on Monday night, the newly elected leader still managed to make some noticeable tweaks in the first full 24 hours he has been in power so far.
Historic change to Blue Room
Almost immediately after being sworn in, Mr Albanese gave his first press conference as Prime Minister — with his new ministers by his side.
He was flanked by his deputy, Richard Marles, and frontbenchers Penny Wong, Jim Chalmers and Katy Gallagher.
Mr Marles was sworn in as Employment Minister, Senator Wong as Foreign Affairs Minister, Mr Chalmers as Treasurer and Senator Gallagher as Finance Minister, Minister for Women and Attorney-General.
“Australians have voted for change,” Mr Albanese said. “And my government intends to implement that change in an orderly way.”
One of the changes was immediately noticeable when members of the press entered the Blue Room at Parliament House for the new Prime Minister’s first media conference.
There, the Canberra press gallery were in place to see the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags being installed behind the podium alongside the Australian flag for the first time.
Mr Albanese did not make note of the big change while speaking to reporters for the first time as Prime Minister, but he did make reference to his plans to move forward with the Uluru Statement from the Heart.
The Uluru Statement from the Heart asks for constitutional change introducing a process by which the Australian government works with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander representatives when making decisions, so that the whole country is fairly governed.
Swinging the axe
Despite saying he “respected” the public service and suggesting he wouldn’t be sacking people before being elected, Mr Albanese had already made moves to axe the nation’s top public servant Phil Gaetjens hours after being sworn into the top job.
The top public servant was controversially tasked by Scott Morrison with investigating what his office knew about Liberal staffer Brittany Higgins’s allegations she was raped at Parliament House in 2019.
After moving from Treasury to lead prime minister Scott Morrison’s department, Phil Gaetjens salary rose from $879,978 to $914,460 a year.
Phil Gaetjens, Secretary of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage
News.com.au understands however that Mr Gaetjens pre-empted the move and offered to stand aside.
Vow to ‘get down to business’
Settling in after his first press conference as PM, Mr Albanese took calls from world leaders on his election victory.
He spoke to the UK’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson to “the strength of Australia’s close relationship with the United Kingdom”.
“We discussed our shared commitment to AUKUS and to acting on the challenge of climate change,” Mr Albanese said.
However, it wasn’t long until his sights were set on Japan, where he has landed overnight to meet with the leaders of the Quad — the United States, India and Japan.
Mr Albanese arrives at Haneda airport in Tokyo. Picture: AFP
On Tuesday, Mr Albanese will have one-on-one meetings with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, US President Joe Biden, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday, before returning to Australia on Wednesday to “get down to business”. Biden is expected to congratulate Albanese formally in person on Tuesday.
Commitment to investigate mass texts
In another move during his one-day tenure as Prime Minister, Mr Albanese reportedly tasked his government with investigating the arrival of a Sri Lankan asylum seeker boat on the morning of the election – after the Liberals sent mass texts out to voters about it on voting day.
Mr Morrison had warned voters earlier in the week that people smugglers were preparing to fire up their businesses in the event of a Labor win.
On Saturday, the Liberals sent a mass of robo-texts to voters after seizing on Mr Morrison’s announcement an asylum seeker vessel had been intercepted apparently en route to Australia.
The texts were sent to voters in marginal seats.
The move outraged senior Labor members, who questioned the timing of the announcement and the Liberal Party’s immediate mass text messages to voters in marginal seats.
The message read: “BREAKING – Australian Border Force has intercepted an illegal boat trying to reach Australia. Keep our borders secure by voting Liberal today. https://vote.liberal.org.au.”
Today, the Sydney Morning Herald reported multiple senior Labor sources have confirmed there would be a review into how the boat got so close to Australia and the timing of the disclosure. News.com.au has contacted Mr Albanese’s office for comment.
