Advertisement

Australian PM Morrison concedes election defeat

STORY: Flanked by his wife and daughters, Morrison described the result as "humbling" and "difficult". He thanked his family, whom he described as his "biggest miracle", and said he took responsibility for the result and would be standing down as leader of the Liberal party.

Partial results showed Morrison's Liberal-National coalition had been punished by voters in Western Australia and affluent urban seats in particular.

Labor had yet to reach the 76 of the 151 lower house seats required to form a government alone. Final results could take time as counting of a record number of postal votes is completed.

A strong showing by the Greens and a group of so-called "teal independents", who campaigned on policies of integrity, equality and tackling climate change, means the makeup of the new parliament looks set to be much less climate-sceptic than the one that supported Morrison's pro-coal mining administration.

Morrison became prime minister in 2018 after several leadership changes.