Australian PM Morrison looks set to form majority govt: report
Melbourne: Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison could form a majority government as the ruling conservative coalition was on course to win some more seats in the election which defied exit polls to deliver a shock defeat to the opposition Labor Party, forcing its leader Bill Shorten to resign.
A party needs 76 seats for a simple majority in the 151-member House of Representatives, the lower house of Parliament. Before the election, the Coalition held 73 seats, while Labor 72.
According to ABC, the Liberal party led by Prime Minister Morrison was expected to secure Bass, Chisholm, Boothby and Wentworth seats that could lead the Coalition to secure majority with at least 77 seats.
On Monday morning, another Liberal candidate of Indian-origin Dave Sharma raced ahead of the independent candidate Kerryn Phelps. Phelps later conceded that she had lost the eastern suburbs Sydney seat to Sharma who was leading the sitting MP by 2572 vote.
So far, coalition has won 75 seats as compared to Labor's 65.
"As far as I'm concerned, on the numbers to come, Bass will be the 76th seat. Postals and absent votes favour the coalition in Bass and they're already ahead," ABC chief elections analyst Antony Green was quoted as saying.
"At some time today, Bass will tick over to become the 76th seat, delivering the government a majority," he said.
Green further said that he was expecting Chisholm to become the 77th seat, with Boothby and Wentworth already in the Liberal count.
Backed by "quiet Australians" and defying exit polls, the ruling conservative coalition staged a "miraculous" victory in the general election on Sunday, devastating the opposition Labor Party and forcing its leader Shorten to step down.
The Labor party has started looking for a new leader.
Former deputy prime minister Anthony Albanese and deputy leader Tanya Plibersek are both considering their options as the next Labor party leader.
"I believe I'm the best person to lead Labor back into government. We've lost three elections in a row. That has an impact on those Australians who rely upon us to improve their education, to look after their health care, to build public transport infrastructure," Albanese said.
Apart from Plibersek who has been the deputy leader for six years and held the foreign affairs, Shadow Treasurer Chris Bowen was also considering running for the Labor leader.
"We have an obligation as Labor Party people to keep fighting for a fairer Australia, for a strong economy and a fair society. We'll keep doing that," Plibersek said.
Meanwhile, media reports suggested that the election results have pushed the stocks for banks, private health to record high with over a billion dollars added to the value of ASX-listed health insurers after the coalition's victory.
According to The Age, "the Scott Morrison-led coalition was now tipped as likely to form a majority government... investors sent Medibank (private health insurance) shares soaring over 11 per cent by late Monday morning".
The market capitalisation of the big four banks in the country - NAB, ANZ, Commonwealth and Westpac - was 24 billion Australian dollars, higher with traders turning to buy, reports said.
Even Australian dollar was recorded higher following the coalition's victory.
Around 16 million Australians swarmed to the polling booths across the country on Saturday to elect the nation's 31st prime minister, in what was widely referred to as the climate-change election.
Earlier, a Nine-Galaxy poll released shortly before the voting stations closed in the east of the country showed a victory for the opposition Labor party and Liberal Party-led coalition losing its bid for a third three-year term.
The poll showed the Labor winning as many as 82 seats, beating the ruling Coalition. On Friday, media reports also endorsed Labor leader Shorten as the best chance to end a "cycle of instability" in Australian politics.
Australia has compulsory voting and a complex system of ballots ranked by voter preference. The political, economic and cultural differences varies from state to state on the vast island-continent.
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Israel launches first airstrike on Lebanon since ceasefire, accusing Hezbollah of breaching truce
Beirut, Nov 28: The Israeli military on Thursday said its warplanes fired on southern Lebanon after detecting Hezbollah activity at a rocket storage facility, the first Israeli airstrike a day after a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah took hold.
There was no immediate word on casualties from Israel's aerial attack, which came hours after the Israeli military said it fired on people trying to return to certain areas in southern Lebanon. Israel said they were violating the ceasefire agreement, without providing details. Lebanon's state-run National News Agency said two people were wounded.
The back-to-back incidents stirred unease about the agreement, brokered by the United States and France, which includes an initial two-month ceasefire in which Hezbollah members are to withdraw north of the Litani River and Israeli forces are to return to their side of the border. The buffer zone would be patrolled by Lebanese troops and UN peacekeepers.
On Thursday, the second day of a ceasefire after more than a year of bloody conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, Lebanon's state news agency reported that Israeli fire targeted civilians in Markaba, close to the border, without providing further details. Israel said it fired artillery in three other locations near the border. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
An Associated Press reporter in northern Israel near the border heard Israeli drones buzzing overhead and the sound of artillery strikes from the Lebanese side.
The Israeli military said in a statement that “several suspects were identified arriving with vehicles to a number of areas in southern Lebanon, breaching the conditions of the ceasefire.” It said troops “opened fire toward them” and would “actively enforce violations of the ceasefire agreement.”
Israeli officials have said forces will be withdrawn gradually as it ensures that the agreement is being enforced. Israel has warned people not to return to areas where troops are deployed, and says it reserves the right to strike Hezbollah if it violates the terms of the truce.
A Lebanese military official said Lebanese troops would gradually deploy in the south as Israeli troops withdraw. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief media.
The ceasefire agreement announced late Tuesday ended 14 months of conflict between Israel and Hezbollah that began a day after Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023 attack out of Gaza, when the Lebanese Hezbollah group began firing rockets, drones and missiles in solidarity.
Israel retaliated with airstrikes, and the conflict steadily intensified for nearly a year before boiling over into all-out war in mid-September. The war in Gaza is still raging with no end in sight.
More than 3,760 people were killed by Israeli fire in Lebanon during the conflict, many of them civilians, according to Lebanese health officials. The fighting killed more than 70 people in Israel — over half of them civilians — as well as dozens of Israeli soldiers fighting in southern Lebanon.
Some 1.2 million people were displaced in Lebanon, and thousands began streaming back to their homes on Wednesday despite warnings from the Lebanese military and the Israeli army to stay out of certain areas. Some 50,000 people were displaced on the Israeli side, but few have returned and the communities near the northern border are still largely deserted.
In Menara, an Israeli community on the border with views into Lebanon, around three quarters of homes are damaged, some with collapsed roofs and burnt-out interiors. A few residents could be seen gathering their belongings on Thursday before leaving again.
