Australian PM won't say who might attend Tokyo summit

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison wouldn't say who might represent the nation at a summit with the US, Indian and Japanese leaders in Tokyo just three days after Australian elections on Saturday. Morrison said on Wednesday that there were "conventions in place" to deal with the election, but did not elaborate on how those conventions would work if the result were close. "I'm sure depending on the outcome of this Saturday's election that they'll be put in place," Morrison said. Opposition leader Anthony Albanese has said he would have himself sworn in as prime minister as soon as Sunday or Monday in order to attend the summit of the Indo-Pacific strategic alliance known as the Quad on Tuesday. "The first thing that I will be doing is meeting with our allies, that's what I'll be doing, meeting with President Biden, meeting with (Japanese) Prime Minister (Fumio) Kishida, meeting with (Indian Prime Minister) Narendra Modi next week, that's my priority," Albanese told the National Press Club in Canberra. Caretaker conventions have constrained what the government can do since April 10 when Morrison called the election. But conventions are not binding. The published conventions provide a range of options for a caretaker prime minister undertaking an overseas visit or international negotiations. The prime minister could adopt "observer status" at the Tokyo summit or seek opposition support for any negotiating positions. Australian opposition senator Penny Wong said she would accompany Albanese to Tokyo as foreign minister if their center-left Labor Party wins. It's usually clear on the night of Australian elections which party will win a majority of seats in the House of Representatives and form government. But opinion polls suggest the weekend election will be close and could result in a hung parliament in which neither the conservative coalition nor the Labor Party holds a majority. There is also an increase in postal votes at this election as electors avoid the pandemic risk at polling booths. Postal votes take longer to count. It took Labor 17 days after the 2010 election to secure the support of enough independent lawmakers to form a minority government.

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Australian PM won't say who might attend Tokyo summit

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison wouldn't say who might represent the nation at a summit with the US, Indian and Japanese leaders in Tokyo just three days after Australian elections on Saturday.

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