SYDNEY, Australia — Veteran Sydney lawmaker Anthony Albanese will become Australia’s new opposition leader this week, after being made head of the Labor Party on Monday. Albanese took control of the country’s main opposition party when he stood unopposed to replace Bill Shorten, who resigned as opposition leader after Labor’s unexpected loss to Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s conservative government in the May 18 general election. Albanese, 56, told a news conference Monday that he would hold Prime Minister Morrison’s newly reelected government to account, but would not be an opposition leader who routinely opposes all government initiatives. “I will hold his government to account, strongly, forcefully,” Albanese said, adding, however, that “people want solutions, not arguments. He pledged to “serve all Australians” as opposition leader, and to reach out to the one-in-four voters who didn’t vote for either of the country’s two main power bases — centre-left Labor, or Morrison’s coalition — in the election.

Source: National Post May 27, 2019 04:21 UTC