Labor Party Trounced In Australian Elections - Tony Abbott To Be The Next Prime Minister
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation on Saturday called a clear win for the Abbott-led conservative opposition over Mr Rudd's Labour in national polls.
"The coalition is on a pretty secure 74 seats already. On that basis they're going to get a majority. I think we can say the government has been defeated," Antony Green, the state broadcaster's election analyst, said.
The apparent victory by Australia's British-born opposition leader would mark a dramatic return to power for the conservative Liberal-National party after six years of shaky Labour rule.
Mr Abbott presented a stable alternative to Labour, which has been racked by years of infighting and leadership turmoil.
Mr Rudd has only been in office for three months after defeating Julia Gillard, Australia's first female prime minister, in a leadership challenge. Ms Gillard ousted Mr Rudd as leader during his first term in 2010.
Though Mr Abbott ran a strong campaign, Australians have not yet completely warmed to him.
A former popular Labour prime minister, Bob Hawke, said on Saturday: "I'm not trying to denigrate the good campaign that Tony ran, but I really believe that this was an election that was lost by the government more than one that was won by the opposition."
Mr Abbott, 55, has long been regarded as a somewhat comical figure and was widely believed by many - including several of his party colleagues - to be unelectable. His frequent appearances in tight-fitting budgie smugglers, or swimming costumes, or in tight-fitting cycling gear only added to his image as a macho, buffoonish brawler.
Before he voted on Saturday, he expressed regret that he not been able to surf.
"You will be pleased to know I am in a suit not in budgie smugglers [swimming costumes]," he told Channel Nine. "I wish I was out in the waves. It is a nice swell for an elderly long boarder."
Despite longstanding concerns about his attitudes to women, he has pledged one of the world's most generous parental leave schemes and has frequently appeared during the campaign alongside his two younger daughters, Frances, 22, and Bridget, 20.
Mr Abbott has vowed he will scrap Labour's carbon and mining taxes, cut the budget deficit, reduce foreign aid, boost defence spending and take a tough stance towards asylum seekers. He wants to pay rewards to young unemployed people who find work and plans to travel to an Aboriginal community for a week each year to govern from the outback.
"We will be a no surprises, no excuses government because you are sick of nasty surprises," he said at his campaign launch on August 25.
