The Australian Labor Party
in New South Wales state has claimed power in an election with voters backing the centre-left party’s
pledges on anti-privatisation and cost of living relief.
The election in Australia’s most populous state had been
touted as a tight race between the incumbent Liberal-National
coalition and Labor, but the vote count on Sunday showed Labor
on track to take the 47 seats needed to form a majority
government, after three terms in opposition.
The win marks further endorsement of the party of Australian
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who joined his state
counterpart Chris Minns in Sydney on polling day.
“A huge congratulations to @ChrisMinnsMP… and the whole
NSW Labor team on your election victory,” Albanese said on
Twitter late on Saturday.
Labor’s win in New South Wales means the party now governs
at the state and federal levels across Australia’s mainland, leaving the island state Tasmania as the conservative outlier.
“After 12 years in opposition the people of New South Wales
have voted for a fresh start,” Minns told supporters in Sydney
late on Saturday.
“The people of New South Wales voted to put in a government
that would put people at the heart of all decision-making”.
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‘Commonsense initiatives’
Labor’s campaign in the state featured a pledge to rule out
further privatisation of state assets, and a promise to boost
public sector wages, amid cost-of-living concerns.
Inflation has posed a challenge for the Reserve
Bank of Australia, which this month lifted its cash rate to its
highest level in more than a decade.
Speaking on Sunday, Minns said Labor had “commonsense
initiatives” that would help bring down the cost of living in the
state.
His government, once sworn in, would prepare laws to
protect government utility Sydney Water from a future sell-off,
he also said.
Outgoing premier Dominic Perrottet, a social conservative
Catholic and former state treasurer, was elected premier in 2021
after his predecessor resigned after a corruption watchdog probe
into whether she was involved in conduct that “constituted or
involved a breach of public trust”.
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