Australia's Labour Party swept into power at national elections today, propelling 50-year-old former diplomat Kevin Rudd into office on a wave of support for generational change.
The surge to Labour left conservative prime minister John Howard struggling to hold on to even his own parliamentary seat, which he has held since 1974, putting him in danger of becoming the first prime minister since 1929 to lose his constituency.
Official figures from the Australian Electoral Commission showed Labour far in front after more than 70 per ent of the ballots had been counted - with 53 per cent of the vote compared to 46.7 per cent for Howard's coalition.
Using those figures, an Australian Broadcasting Corporation analysis showed that Labour would get at least 81 places in the 150-seat lower house of Parliament - a clear majority.
Mr Rudd presented himself as a new generation leader compared with Mr Howard (68), promising to pull Australian combat troops out of Iraq and sign the Kyoto Protocol on climate change, further isolating Washington on both issues.
"Today the Australian people have decided that we as a nation will move forward ... to embrace the future, together to write a new page in our nation's history," Mr Rudd said in a nationally televised victory speech, to wild cheers from hundreds of supporters.
Mr Howard said in his concession speech in Sydney he accepted responsibility for his Liberal Party's campaign, "and I therefore accept full responsibility for the coalition's defeat in this election".
Mr Rudd's victory attracted a swing of more than five percent across the nation from the previous election, and was only the sixth change of government since World War Two.
The election was fought mainly on domestic issues, with Labour cashing in on anger at workplace laws and rising interest rates which put home owners under financial pressure at a time when Australia's economy is booming.
The new government is unlikely to mean a large-scale change in Australia's foreign policy but Mr Rudd said during the campaign that he would withdraw Australia's 550 combat troops from Iraq.
While he said around 1,100 will remain in mostly security roles, Mr Howard - a staunch ally of US President George Bush - had said all the troops will stay as long as needed.
However, a significant change in environmental policy was promised by Labour. Mr Rudd said the issue was his top priority, and promised to immediately sign the Kyoto Protocol on greenhouse gas emissions.
That would mean the US will be the only industrialised country not to have signed the pact.