Prime Minister-elect Tony Abbott today got ‘down to business’ with a pledge to work for all Australians, a day after disillusioned voters punished the outgoing Premier Kevin Rudd's Labor Party for its six years of turbulent rule and bitter in-fighting.
Saying he would not let voters down, the conservative leader vowed to govern for all Australians. ‘From today, I declare that Australia is under new management and open for business... We will not leave anyone behind.’ His Liberal-National coalition yesterday defeated the Labor Party in the general election with a national swing of 3.5 per cent, seizing a swathe of seats in Tasmania, Victoria and across New South Wales.
The Australian Election Commission confirmed that the coalition had won 88 seats while Labor 57 in the 150-seat House of Representatives.
‘This is essentially a working day,’ Abbott told reporters outside his Sydney home. ‘People expect that, the day after an election, an incoming government will be getting down to business. And that's what I'll be doing today.’