Scott Morrison’s ‘miracle’ win in the Australian elections

‘I have always believed in miracles,’ Scott Morrison beamed. Australia’s first Pentecostal prime minister was addressing a victory rally after an upset in Saturday’s federal election. Throughout the campaign, pollsters and pundits had been as one: the Coalition (a centre-right alliance between Morrison’s Liberal Party and the agrarian National Party) was finished and Labor was headed into government after six years in opposition. Morrison was the fractious Coalition’s third prime minister since 2013, his ministry was divided over climate change and Labor leader Bill Shorten had tapped into public anger at the banks and the top end of town.

Then they voted. One by one, marginal Coalition seats held firm and suddenly the electoral map’s red patches began bursting into Coalition blue. Labor stalwarts packed into TV studios to cheer their party back into power were abruptly called on to deliver stunned eulogies. Although the preferential voting system, large postal vote and Australia’s vast rural electorates mean no seats have been formally declared, the Australian Electoral Commission has