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Australia’s New PM Albanese Sworn In, Ahead of Quad Meet

Australia’s New PM Albanese Sworn In, Ahead of Quad Meet
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By Staff, Agencies

Australia's Labor Party leader, Anthony Albanese, was sworn in as the country's 31st prime minister on Monday, promising to bring the country together after a fractious election campaign.

Labor returned to power after nearly nine years in opposition as a wave of unprecedented support for the Greens and climate-focused independents, primarily women, helped end almost a decade of rule by the conservative coalition in Saturday's general election.

"I look forward to leading a government that makes Australians proud, a government that doesn't seek to divide, that doesn't seek to have wedges but seeks to bring people together," Albanese said during his first media briefing after taking charge as the prime minister, according to Reuters.

Although votes are still being counted and the makeup of the government has yet to be finalized, Albanese was sworn in by Governor-General David Hurley at a ceremony in the national capital, Canberra, so that he could attend an important meeting of the "Quad" security grouping in Tokyo on Tuesday.

India, the United States, Japan and Australia are members of the Quad, an informal group that Washington has been promoting to work as a potential bulwark against China's increasing political, commercial and military activity in the Indo-Pacific.

Albanese said the country's relationship with China would remain "a difficult one" ahead of the summit with US President Joe Biden and the prime ministers of Japan and India.

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