Photo: Izhar Khan/Getty Images
Donald Trump keeps losing national elections — for conservatives, in other countries. Prime minister Anthony Albanese claimed a second consecutive term in Australia on Saturday, in large part by running against the trade-warring Trump and highlighting America’s now cautionary tale of what happens when anti-government extremists take over your country and start smashing things.
Albanese’s center-left Labor Party is now projected to not only come from behind to win, but expand its majority in Australia’s House of Representatives. The Labor Party rode a sudden wave of anti-Trump sentiment just like Canada’s Liberal Party did earlier this week when Canadian voters dealt Trump not one, but three losses in that country’s national elections. Just like in Canada, the Labor Party looked doomed at the start of the year only to see its popularity soar after Trump took office and started making news. Just like in Canada, Australia’s once-popular conservative opposition leader, Peter Dutton, was not able to defend himself against comparisons to Trump — including being branded “DOGE-y Dutton” by Albanese. As just like what happened to Canada’s Conservative Party leader, Pierre Poilievre, Dutton also lost the Parliamentary seat that he’d held for decades.
Dutton’s Liberal/National party coalition got wiped out in what historically should have been a change election, particularly one focused on economic issues, which tends to hurt the party in power. Dutton embraced culture warring, attacked the media, capitulated to Australia’s far-right, and advocated for multiple MAGA-like policies, including a push for government efficiency, major public service cuts, and a ban on working from home for government workers.
One of the coalition’s leading lawmakers, opposition senator Jacinta Nampijnpa Price, made the MAGA-linking easy last month when she said that she and Dutton would “make Australia great again.” On Saturday, she blamed the media for the Trump comparisons. “Donald Trump doesn’t own those four words,” she said.
Dutton acknowledged that he and his party had let themselves be “defined by our opponents in this election.”
“Our government will choose the Australian way because we are proud of who we are,” Albanese said in his victory speech on Saturday. “We do not seek our inspiration from overseas. We find it right here in our values and our people.”
Secretary of State (and National Security Advisor and U.S. Aid administrator and National Archives archivist) Marco Rubio took some time out of his busy schedule to congratulate Albanese on Saturday, reaffirming in a statement that “Australia is a valued ally, partner, and friend of the United States. Our shared values and democratic traditions provide the bedrock for an enduring alliance and for the deep ties between our peoples.” Rubio did not offer any thoughts on how the American president and his administration’s accomplishments have become a vital selling point for liberal parties and candidates across the globe. In Canada and now Australia, significant numbers of voters are making it very clear which country’s political movement they don’t want to emulate.
