Australia’s jubilant Liberals have attributed their unexpected election win to a remorseless questioning of the costs of Labor’s green policies.
Labor went into polling day as overwhelming favourites, armed with a raft of plans for emissions cuts and government spending plans designed to combat climate change.
Voters, however, re-elected Scott Morrison’s centre-right Liberal-led coalition which offered comparatively modest counter-measures, despite Australian being gripped by drought after suffering its hottest-ever summer.
Tony Abbott, 61, the former prime minister, was one of the few Liberal casualties, losing his Warringah seat on Sydney’s affluent northern beaches that he has held for 25 years. Mr Abbott contrasted his fate at the hands of wealthier Australians with the Liberal candidates who won in Queensland, heart of the vast coal export
