Opposition leader concedes defeat, saying ‘it is clear that Malcolm Turnbull will form a government’ though voting has yet to finish in some seats
8.36am BST
And so it came to pass, eight days after the end of an eight-week-long election campaign, that Malcolm Turnbull was declared prime minister elect.
But while Turnbull and Bill Shorten have determined that they don’t need to reprint their business cards, and declared they can work together in a spirit of cooperation and mutual hatred of how long it takes the Australian Electoral Commission to count things, we’ve yet to learn the final makeup of the 45th parliament.
8.14am BST
Labor candidate for Cowan, Anne Aly, is speaking on Sky News. She’s currently leading the count in Cowan against Liberal MP Luke Simpkins.
Aly said she was hopeful of maintaining that lead but expected the formal result would not be known for at least a week.
I think the Labor government – the Labor party, sorry – achieved a lot in this campaign ... we gained a lot of ground in this election campaign and I think that sends a clear message to the Coalition government on where they need to be focusing their priorities.
8.09am BST
My colleague, Paul Karp, has taken a look at the push for electronic voting.
He writes:
Shorten said that, without taking away from the professionalism of the Australian Electoral Commission, the voting system needed to be sped up: “We can’t afford to have our nation drift for eight days after an election.
“In the 21st century, we’re a leading democracy, we should be able to find out who won and who lost in a quicker time than we’ve seen.”
8.02am BST
Michael Danby’s comments on Greens voters growing out of voting Green have not gone down well with Greens voters.
@callapilla I started voting Green the older I got so there’s that.
I will not vote for Labor while it maintains a cruel and illegal asylum seeker policy https://t.co/lzrfh07NRp
Well actually for me it has been the opposite *growth* #grewupandgrewaconscience
✌️ https://t.co/wg5o7kUE7d
What about all the older Labor voters who voted Greens for the first time, will they 'grow out' of it too? https://t.co/6L6XcqOb4Y
7.57am BST
An interesting note from Malcolm Turnbull’s press conference about the Australian Building and Construction Commission bill. You know, that piece of legislation that was the trigger for the double-dissolution election and then barely mentioned throughout the eight-week campaign.
Can you get that through now, will you actually have a joint sitting of parliament to get that legislation through?
Well let me explain how it works. The bills that were the subject of the double dissolution under section 57 are re-presented to the House of Representatives which will vote on them.
I confidently expect they will be passed. They will then be presented to the Senate and if they’re passed there then they’re law. If they’re not passed there then a joint sitting can be held. Now we don’t know who is going to be in the Senate yet and indeed there are a number of seats in the House of Representatives that are yet to be finally determined although we have a higher level of confidence about almost all of them.
7.49am BST
Osman Faruqi, writing on Junkee, has raised a rather good point.
He writes:
As a quick aside, it’s pretty funny the governor general, who is the official representative of the Queen, is celebrating Bastille Day. Bastille Day is a celebration of the start of the 1789 French revolution which resulted in the declaration of a French Republic and the execution of the king.
So basically Australia has a slight delay in officially appointing our prime minister, because our system of constitutional monarchy means the Queen’s representative has to swear them in, but the Queen’s rep is too busy celebrating the brutal deposition of the French monarchy back in the 1700s. There’s never been a more exciting time to be an Australian who thinks our monarchist system of government is a bit outdated and shit.
7.41am BST
Danby said he is confident he will be ranked second in the preference count for Melbourne Ports. If that happens, he said, most of the Greens preferences will flow to him, allowing him to pip Liberal candidate Owen Guest at the post.
Most of their [Greens] voters are really good people who have differences with us on asylum seekers and we’re fairly confident that their preferences will go to us.
I would hope as they get older and get married and realise some of the complexities of life they will turn back to being Labor voters.
7.34am BST
Michael Danby, the Labor member for Melbourne Ports, who is still in a three-pronged race with the Liberal party and the Greens to retain the seat, followed Ryan on Sky.
He says Bill Shorten has done a fantastic job.
Bill Shorten has done a fantastic job. I think it’s a bit of a story of the tortoise and the hare.
7.27am BST
Liberal senator for Victoria, Scott Ryan, has just been on Sky News talking about Labor’s Medicare campaign, which he said scratched an itch in the electorate, and the likely shape of the new parliament.
The expectation is the Coalition will win 76-seats, which is just enough to form a majority. So, that’s a pass mark. Is that enough to solidify Turnbull’s position?
The job of every government is to work with the parliament that the Australian people give us.
7.21am BST
While both sides have agreed that the Coalition is the victor, Malcolm Turnbull will not be able to send his new government to get sworn in until he renegotiates a deal with the National party, and until the governor general, Sir Peter Cosgrove, returns from France, where he is taking part in a Bastille Day celebration.
7.13am BST
The “preference whisperer”, Glen Druery, has sketched out what he thinks the Senate will look like. He suggests that Pauline Hansen’s One Nation party could pick up Senate spots in Tasmania, New South Wales and Western Australia, as well as Hansen’s own Senate spot, which is already confirmed in Queensland.
Possible Senate numbers by State. pic.twitter.com/kpegQSrZ9k
7.08am BST
6.59am BST
Expect questions to be raised over whether this narrow election victory is sufficient to give the Coalition a mandate to implement its more contentious policies, like the promised company tax cut and the same-sex marriage plebescite.
According to Richard Ackland, Turnbull does not have a mandate:
Turnbull says he can form a majority government, in which event it will be a sour little victory – a victory without a mandate. The hard-right soul of the party is also in flames – just look at what happened in Tasmania where Senator Eric Abetz’s Christian regressives run the local machine. There’s no moral authority to be found there – all we might hope for is that now he sits quietly in a corner for a very long time.
6.45am BST
Not a bad idea.
AFTER 60-ODD DAYS OF TORTURE, TURNBULL STILL PM, SHORTEN STILL LABOR LEADER. TOMORROW SHOULD BE A NATIONAL PUBLIC HOLIDAY AS COMPENSATION
6.40am BST
Today I called Mr Turnbull to congratulate him. Although counting goes on, it's clear he will form either a minority or majority government.
I could not be prouder of Labor's campaign & all who were part of it - we will never stop fighting for Medicare, schools and Australian jobs
6.37am BST
Mark Textor is celebrating.
That's a win. #6.
6.37am BST
A rather damning review of electronic voting, from the last time the parliament took a look at it.
Via Crikey’s Josh Taylor.
The last parliamentary committee's view on electronic voting after the last election. https://t.co/8vgqGzqt22 pic.twitter.com/WsCRGgCvL7
6.33am BST
A few thoughts on Turnbull’s speech, before we take a look at the reaction and offer the more expert analysis of my Canberra colleagues.
Obviously a victory speech given at 3pm on a Sunday, eight days after the election itself, is going to feel rather different to one given amidst the adreneline and slightly deflated balloons of election night itself. But even allowing for that difference, Turnbull’s address was odd and unfocused, as if he had not taken any time in the past eight days to think about what he might say.
6.21am BST
Turnbull finished what was a rather odd victory speech by offering some reflections on his granddaughter, Isla, and sharing his reinforced revelation that children are the future.
I know many people probably think I’m an unduly sentimental fellow, sentimental bloke, but I was touched, deeply touched, that when Bill Shorten rang I was holding my one-year-old granddaughter...
It’s a reminder, you know, it’s a beautiful reminder that we are trustees, all of us, me and Bill and all of us, we are trustees for future generations.
6.16am BST
Bill Shorten made a push in his concessions speech for electronic voting, saying “if we’re a grown up democracy, we should not be waiting eight days to find out who won and who lost”.
Some of these calls and messages were extremely deceptive and targeted at those most likely to be misled.
6.09am BST
Continuing on his theme of being constructive and working together, Turnbull has pitched his new government as a collaborative, future-looking beast.
... commit to them anew our absolutely unrelenting determination to ensure that this parliament delivers good government, wise legislation, and builds on the strength of our economy to ensure that truly our best days are a head of us.
Well, we’ve won the election. That’s what we’ve done, we’ve won the election.
6.03am BST
Turnbull thanked all crossbenchers, especially Cathy McGowan and Bob Katter who have guaranteed supply, and Andrew Wilkie, who promised not to support a vote of no confidence in a Turnbull government.
It is my commitment to work in every way possible to ensure that the crossbenchers have access to all of the information they need and all of the resources they need to be able to play the role they need in this parliament … our intention is to reinstate the resource arrangements that were in place in the 43rd parliament.
Every member of the House and Senate deserve respect because they have been elected by the Australian people.
5.57am BST
Turnbull’s victory speech is very heavy on unity, which I suspect was directed at his own party as much as it was the new class of crossbenchers in the House of Representatives and the Senate.
It is vital that this parliament work. It is vital that we work together and as far as we can ensure that we all agree … consistent with our policies that we took to the election
I want to thank all the people who ran for parliament. All of them, even the ones that we vehemently disagree with.
It delivers and it works very well and we should all be very proud of that.
5.50am BST
Turnbull also acknowledged the Coalition MPs who lost their seats last Saturday – there have been at least a dozen.
It is a tough business and I want to acknowledge the hard work they have done and the pain they are going through.
5.44am BST
The prime minister elect, Malcolm Turnbull, has opened his victory speech with an Oscar-length run of thanks for family members, candidates and the family members of candidates.
He said he took a call from Bill Shorten earlier today.
Earlier today Bill Shorten called me and congratulated me on being re-elected as prime minister, and I thanked Bill for that call.
I have to say on a family note when Bill called me I had my granddaughter Isla on my left hip so she was a one year old witness to history.
5.31am BST
Here’s a bit more of Bill Shorten’s concessions speech, in which he said the result vindicated our system of democracy.
Whilst counting has not concluded in a number of very close seats, it is clear that Mr Turnbull and his Coalition will form a government. Whether or not it is a minority government or a majority government of one or two seats, it is clear they will form a government.
So I have spoken to Mr Turnbull early this afternoon to congratulate him and Lucy and to wish them my very best.
When we look at the world around us, it is fantastic that the Australian people can settle their political disagreements in thousands of school halls over sausage sizzles voting in ballot boxes. It is the way that it should be.
And Australians, again, have vindicated our system of democracy ... I hope for our nation’s sake that the Coalition does a good job. I hope they run a good government. Australians expect nothing less of the 45th parliament ... I pledge and I have indicated to Mr Turnbull that where there is common ground, we will work very hard to accomplish it. I understand that we have an opportunity here, the Australian people expect all sides of politics to work in the national interest, in the interest of the people, not just themselves.
5.21am BST
While we wait for Malcolm Turnbull to address the media, here’s an update on the seat count.
It has been clear for a couple of days that the Turnbull government was certain of forming government.
5.14am BST
The prime minister (and prime minister elect, now), Malcolm Turnbull, is expected to address the media in Sydney at 2.30pm.
It has taken us a week to get here, but it looks like we’ve got a new government, same as the old government.
5.09am BST
At this stage of the extremely protracted vote count, the Coalition has 73 seats to the Labor party’s 66.
The seats of Capricornia, Flynn, Forde, Herbert, Hindmarsh and Cowan are still undecided. As of Friday, the Coalition was only leading in Forde, which would leave the Coalition two seats short of the 76 needed for a majority.
5.00am BST
Seven days after the polls closed, Labor leader Bill Shorten has conceded the federal election, telling reporters at a press conference in Melbourne today that it was “clear that Malcolm Turnbull will form a government”.
Shorten said he called Turnbull earlier on Sunday to congratulate him on the win, although it’s not yet clear whether Turnbull will govern in minority or majority.
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