By Neena Bhandari, IANS
Sydney : Australians have voted for change with Kevin Rudd-led Australian Labor Party (ALP) claiming victory on Saturday night, ending the 11-year-long John Howard era.
At 12.24 AEST (about 14.30 GMT), with 75 percent votes counted, the ALP had won 83 seats – 76 seats were required for victory – and the Coalition (Liberal Party of Australia and the National Party) have won 58 seats.
Rudd, who became the leader of ALP only 50 weeks ago, will become the 26th prime minister of Australia. He said, “Today the Australian people have decided that we as a nation will move forward. To plan for the future, to prepare for the future, to embrace the future and together as Australians to unite and write a new page in our nation’s history.”
To a jubilant crowd at the Suncorp Stadium in his home state of Queensland, with his wife and children besides him, Rudd, 50, said, “I say tonight to the nation, I will never take their sacred trust for granted. I understand that this is a great privilege and I will do everything to honour the trust that has been extended to me.”
He thanked the people of Australia for their overwhelming support and vowed to deliver the election promises: “To start building a world-class education system. To embrace the long-term funding needs of our public hospital system. To act and act with urgency on the great challenges of climate change and water. To build a 21st century infrastructure for a 21st century economy and to get the balance right between fairness and flexibility in the workplaces of the nation.”
Calling for unity and forging a common vision, Rudd said he would be a prime minister for all Australians – for indigenous Australians, Australians born here and those who have come from afar.
A large number of migrants, including people from the Indian sub-continent, have voted for the ALP for its stand on education, health, climate change and work choices legislation.
Rudd promised the protection of Australian borders would remain a top priority for his government as it has been for the Howard Government. He said, “I extend our greetings tonight to our great friend and ally the United States, to our great friends and partners across Asia and the Pacific. To our great friends and partners in Europe and beyond we look forward to a working partnership with all those nations.”
For the first time in over a decade, the ALP is in power in all the states and at the federal level.
Dignified in defeat and taking full responsibility for his party’s devastating loss, including of three ministers in the election, Howard, 66, said, “There is no prouder job in the world that anyone can occupy than being prime minister of this country.”
Addressing a gathering of Liberal party supporters at Sydney’s Wentworth Hotel and frequently interrupted by cheers, Howard said, “My fellow Australians, I telephoned Mr Kevin Rudd and I congratulated him and the Australian Labor Party on a very emphatic victory. This is a great democracy and I want to wish Mr Rudd well.”
Howard said he is “very likely” to lose his seat of Bennelong. If Labor’s star recruit and former Australian Broadcasting Corporation journalist Maxine McKew wins the Bennelong seat, Howard will become only the second sitting prime minister to lose his seat since 1929.
Howard, who was flanked by wife Janette and two of his three children during his address, said the Coalition has left Australia “prouder and stronger and more prosperous” than it was 11-and-a-half years ago when he took power.