Who is Anthony Albanese? Australia's Prime Minister-elect

Sydney, May 21: Anthony Albanese is poised to become the Australian Prime Minister after his Labor party toppled the Conservative government, after almost a decade in power, in the general elections held over the weekend.

The son of a single mother who raised him on a pension, Anthony Albanese had a humble start to life for a politician who could become Australia's prime minister.

He has been the leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) since 2019, and a member of parliament (MP) for the division of Grayndler since 1996.

Albanese was deputy prime minister of Australia under the second Rudd government in 2013 and a Cabinet minister in the Rudd and Gillard governments from 2007 to 2013.

Albanese was born in Sydney to an Irish-Australian mother and an Italian father.

He joined the Labor Party as a student, and before entering parliament worked as a party official and research officer. Albanese was elected to the House of Representatives at the 1996 election, winning the seat of Grayndler in New South Wales.

He was first appointed to the Shadow Cabinet in 2001 and went on to serve in a number of roles, eventually becoming Manager of Opposition Business in 2006.

After Labor's victory in the 2007 election, Albanese was appointed Leader of the House; he was also made Minister for Regional Development and Local Government and Minister for Infrastructure and Transport.

Anthony Albanese was a minister throughout Labor's most recent six years in power and reached his highest office - deputy prime minister - in his government's final three months, which ended with the 2013 election.

In the 2022 election, Albanese led his party to victory against incumbent prime minister Scott Morrison, becoming only the fourth Labor leader to be elected prime minister from opposition since the Second World War.

He has promised to rehabilitate Australia's international reputation as a climate change laggard with steeper cuts to greenhouse gas emissions.