Liberal leader Tony Abbot is Australia’s new prime minister

The Liberal-National coalition led by Tony Abbot swept Labor out of power in Australia for the first time in six years, and us on course for 88 seats, compared with 57 for Labor. The outgoing Prime Minister Kevin Rudd conceded defeat. He called the election three months after defeating Julia Gillard in a Labor leadership challenge and was encouraged by polling figures to believe he would be home and dry. The main election issues were the economy and containing the rising figures of Asian asylum seekers arriving by boat.