<Above Pic: Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong shakes hands with Australian Opposition Leader Tony Abbott at Parliament House on October 11, 2012 in Canberra, Australia>
Australia's conservative leader of the Liberal Party, Tony Abbott, defeated the Rudd government's Labour Party yesterday in a the Federal election in Australia. During Abbott's victory speech, he mentioned a few key issues that the country will change under his leadership.
He promised to remove the Carbon Tax and lower taxes on the mining industry as well as stopping the boats carrying asylum seekers from entering Australia.
He won't be legalizing gay marriage as promised by Kevin Rudd as he is a faithful catholic who was previously a seminarian.
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has congratulated Abbott on his victory in the Federal elections.
PM Lee wrote a letter to Mr Abbot saying that Abbot's resounding electoral success reflects the confidence that Australians have in his leadership and vision for the country.
Mr Lee said he looks forward to working with Mr Abbott to strengthen Singapore-Australia relations.
He said Singapore and Australia are longstanding partners, with excellent bilateral relations.
They cooperate in many areas including trade and investments, defence, education and people-to-people exchanges.
Mr Lee also said both countries work well together, including the Five Power Defence Arrangements and the East Asia Summit.
He invited Mr Abbott to make an official visit to Singapore in the near future.
This is the 7th time the Australian government has been changed since the world war. The liberal party led by the John Howard government lost to the labour party led by Kevin Rudd back in 2007. Back then, Tony Abbott was a Minister of Health and Ageing for the Howard government.
Singapore is the only democratic nation in the world that has had the same ruling government for 50 years without change.