As the prime minister eyes his new cabinet, the Labor leader faces early headwinds including US tariffs and a potentially troublesome Greens senate cross bench.
Anthony Albanese and his senior ministers have already sent a shot across the minor party’s bow, warning them to be co-operative after a first term marred by blocked legislation and drawn-out negotiations.
The Greens have retained their balance of power status in the upper house, but lost leader Adam Bandt and three of four lower house seats, amid a Labor resurgence in the federal election on Saturday.
Outgoing Greens MP Max Chandler-Mather hit back at the prime minister for challenging him on live television, after he described parliament as a toxic place.
The firebrand MP who shot to prominence as the party’s housing spokesman and went head-to-head with Mr Albanese, lost his seat of Griffith in Brisbane to Labor after one term.
Mr Albanese said Mr Chandler-Mather needed to reflect on why he wasn’t in parliament and how he conducted himself when he was, and called out the Greens MP’s attacks on his character.
Mr Chandler-Mather responded by saying it was “how the political class treats people who fight for renters and real change”.
“Compare this to his kind words for Dutton,” he wrote on social media platform X.
Trade Minister Don Farrell pointed to what he said was a tendency to abrasive politics as the reason for the Greens’ poor showing in the lower house.
“The reason that they’ve done so badly in this election is because their supporters wanted them to support the government’s progressive policies, and they were doing exactly the opposite,” he told Nine’s Today Show on Thursday.
However, Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi defended the party, saying Labor’s vote spiked because “a lot of progressive Australians were deeply anxious about a Dutton government”.
“But also, those same voters clearly wanted us to hold a potential Labor government to account, which is why we also achieved record high Senate votes,” she told ABC Radio.
The Greens’ balance of power position in the Senate means the government will need them to pass legislation opposed by the coalition.
The Greens are sweating on the Brisbane-based seat of Ryan, which is amongst 11 seats overall that remain too close to call after the election.
Labor has won at least 89 seats while the coalition sits on a diminished 40 seats in the 150-seat house, after the landslide re-election victory under Mr Albanese.
The Labor caucus will meet in Canberra on Friday ahead of the likely unveiling of a new-look cabinet on Monday.
Senator Farrell, a right faction powerbroker, said he would leave Mr Albanese to determine his cabinet as the Labor factions tussle for ministry representations.
Spots are decided on a proportional basis.
The Victorian right faction is calling for an extra post at the expense of their NSW counterparts, who are overrepresented after a swathe of new MPs changed the left and right faction balance.
The ministry is likely to be sworn in on Tuesday with Mr Albanese planning to travel to Indonesia the following day to meet President Prabowo Subianto.
Also on Mr Albanese’s early-term agenda are the tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump on imported goods, steel and aluminium from Australia.
Mr Trump has also flagged a 100 per cent tariff on films made outside the US, which has alarmed the Australian arts community.
Speaking in Los Angeles, Australia’s ambassador to the US Kevin Rudd said “I don’t think we want to see a tax on Bluey”, the popular children’s show on the ABC.
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