(CU)_Australia’s Labour Party leader Anthony Albanese received an outpouring of well wishes from world leaders who congratulated him on his election victory on Saturday. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his Indian counterpart, Prime Minister Narendra Modi were among the first world leaders to respond to the Labour Party’s win in almost a decade.
“Congratulations Anthony Albanese on your election as Prime Minister of Australia,” the British leader said on Twitter. “I look forward to working with you as we reap the rewards of our comprehensive Free Trade Agreement, the AUKUS partnership and the unmatched closeness between the British and Australian people.” Highlighting his wish to further strengthen the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between India and Australia, PM Modi tweeted his congratulations after midnight. “Congratulations Anthony Albanese for the victory of the Australian Labor Party, and your election as the Prime Minister! I look forward to working towards further strengthening our Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, and for shared priorities in the Indo-Pacific region,” he said.
UK tabloid The Sun however, expressed its dismay over the election results saying Australia had elected “anti-Queen left wing PM Anthony Albanese who tried to remove monarch as head of state”. “The 59-year-old had previously threatened to crumble the Commonwealth, sharing his desire to get rid of Her Majesty,” it said in an editorial. Meanwhile, the Times of India said it is too early to determine how Albanese’s victory would affect Australia’s relations with India, but said it expected a “smoothening of Australia’s ties with China”. “That’s one thing India, and indeed Quad, need to guard against even though Albanese has publicly said there won’t be any change in Australia’s China policy,” the newspaper said, citing unnamed diplomatic sources.
Leaders across the Pacific also responded to Australia’s election results, with the Prime Minister of the Solomon Islands, Manasseh Sogavare, expressing his “sincere congratulations” to Albanese on his victory, and assuring him that the Pacific archipelago remains “Australia’s steadfast friend and development partner of choice”. Sogavare’s Fijian counterpart Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama also congratulated Australia’s PM-elect on Twitter. “Of your many promises to support the Pacific, none is more welcome than your plan to put the climate first – our people’s shared future depends on it, he tweeter, adding that his country looks forward to hosting the new Australian leader soon.
