Key events
ABC calls Longman and Flinders for the Liberals
Caitlin Cassidy
The ABC has called two electorates, Longman and Flinders, for the Coalition, leaving just two seats in the new federal lower house in doubt.
Longman incumbent Terry Young led Labor’s Rhiannyn Douglas by 355 votes on Wednesday evening, with only 750 votes left to count, leading the ABC to call the seat for the Coalition despite a 2.9% swing to the ALP. Young has held the Caboolture and Southern Sunshine Coast seat since 2019.
In Flinders, the Liberal’s Zoe McKenzie leads by 6,424 votes to independent Ben Smith. With 92.8% of the vote counted on Wednesday evening and actual preferences now being provided, the ABC projected McKenzie would secure her second term in the south-east Melbourne seat.
With the latest results, Labor has secured 93 lower house seats and the Coalition 43, with one seat to the Greens and 11 to independents and minor parties.
Labor is currently ahead in the Victorian seat of Calwell, but a formal redistribution of preferences is expected to take around a fortnight until a result is called.
The Sydney seat of Bradfield was previously called for the Coalition but was back in doubt on Wednesday evening after an apparent late surge in support for the independent Nicolette Boele.
Sarah Basford Canales
Anthony Albanese will meet with Indonesian president, Prabowo Subianto, in Jakarta later today as part of his first international visit since being elected for a second-term.
The prime minister will be joined by foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, and home affairs minister, Tony Burke, in Jakarta in a meeting aimed at strengthening ties with the fast-growing neighbour.
Albanese said in a statement:
I am honoured to be a guest of President Prabowo Subianto. There is no country more important to Australia than Indonesia. We have a long history of cooperation and friendship, celebrating 75 years of diplomatic relations last year.
During the federal election campaign, a media report published by the defence news website Janes claimed Russia had filed an official request with Indonesia for permission for its military aircraft to be based out of an airbase on the island of Biak, in Indonesia’s easternmost Papua province.
The Australian government’s position has been that there is “no prospect” of a Russian military base being established on Indonesian soil, a position reaffirmed by the Indonesian government.
An Indonesian foreign ministry spokesperson said the government had not granted permission to any country to establish a military base on its territory.
Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Martin Farrer with the top overnight stories and then it will be Rafqa Touma with the main action.
Anthony Albanese will look to deepen defence and investment ties with Indonesia in talks with the nation’s president, Prabowo Subianto. The prime minister will meet face-to-face with Prabowo in Jakarta later today in his first overseas trip since Labor’s election victory. We have more details coming up.
The ABC has called two electorates, Longman and Flinders, for the Coalition, leaving just two seats in the new federal lower house in doubt. However, Zoe Daniel, the teal independent who saw her seat of Goldstein called for the Liberal Tim Wilson last week, has still not conceded and narrowed her deficit from 1,500 votes on Friday to 401 this morning. More coming up.
