Greenslide: Climate Crisis Spurs Green-Labor Win in Australian Election Over Pro-Coal, Right-Wing PM

In what is being described as a “greenslide,” voters in Australia topple the prime minister, ending nearly a decade of conservative rule. The main issue? Climate change. Voters elected Anthony Albanese of the center-left Labor Party as their new prime minister on Saturday, ousting the right-wing, pro-coal Scott Morrison, who had served as Australia’s prime minister since 2018. The Labor Party won the most seats in Parliament, and voters overwhelmingly backed candidates pushing for stronger climate action. “We have lived through the most catastrophic climate in Australia since the last election,” says Australian climate scientist and activist Tim Flannery, who describes a wave of climate-fueled fires, floods and drought under the rule of right-wing, pro-coal Morrison. “Climate is the most important issue this last election,” in part “because of the catastrophic impacts we’ve seen in Australia since the previous election just three years ago,” says Flannery.

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