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Australia鈥檚 new government sworn in Wednesday includes a record 13 women, including the first female Muslim to serve as a minister and the second Indigenous person named Indigenous Affairs minister.

The ceremony conducted by Governor-General David Hurley in the capital, Canberra, came 11 days after new Prime Minister Anthony Albanese led the center-left Labor Party to an election victory over the incumbent conservatives.

鈥淧roud to lead an inclusive government that is as diverse as Australia itself,鈥� Mr. Albanese wrote on Twitter. 鈥淲elcome to all these new Labor members.鈥�

Youth Minister Anne Aly is Australia鈥檚 first female Muslim minister, while Industry and Science Minister Ed Husic is the first Muslim to serve in Cabinet.

Linda Burney became the first woman, and only the second Indigenous person, to serve as Indigenous Affairs minister.

鈥淔or many years, Australia has lagged behind the rest of the world in gender equality in both parliament and cabinet,鈥� wrote聽Claire Annesley and聽Louise Chappell for The Conversation in an article titled 鈥淎ustralia has more women in cabinet than ever before: what difference will diversity make?鈥�

鈥淔or decades, Australia stuck to the mantra that ministerial recruitment should be made on 鈥榤erit鈥� rather than gender.聽This thinking belongs to an outdated political culture, where women can only access positions of political power with the approval of their male colleagues,鈥� wrote Ms. Annesley and Ms. Chappell.

Of the 30 ministers appointed to the new government, nearly half are women. Women also hold a record 10 spots out of 23 in core Cabinet roles.

鈥淲ith the incoming Albanese government, we have almost caught up to those countries we like to compare ourselves with,鈥� wrote Ms. Annesley and Ms. Chappell. 鈥淚n 2021, women held 50% or more of ministerial positions in seven OECD countries: Austria, Belgium, Canada, Finland, France, Spain, and Sweden, while New Zealand鈥檚 cabinet had 40%.鈥�

Mr. Albanese and Foreign Minister Penny Wong were sworn in early last week so they could fly to Tokyo for a summit with President Joe Biden, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

With some votes still to be counted from last month鈥檚 election, the Labor Party has secured enough seats to hold an outright majority in the 150-seat House.

Mr. Albanese鈥檚 Cabinet includes some new faces as well as some lawmakers who served in the previous Labor government that last held power nine years ago.

鈥淲e have an overflow of talent on our side of the parliament,鈥� Mr. Albanese said, adding that 鈥渋t鈥檚 the most experienced incoming Labor government in our history since federation.鈥�

Mr. Albanese has been getting support from an unusual source: British singer-songwriter Billy Bragg.

Mr. Bragg wrote on Twitter that he鈥檇 awoken to find that 鈥渢he new prime minister of Australia had quoted my lyrics in his first press conference.鈥�

Mr. Bragg went on to say he wasn鈥檛 surprised as he鈥檚 been friends with Mr. Albanese for more than 20 years after they met at a theater in Sydney and bonded over a shared love of music and compassionate politics.

鈥淭he challenges he faces are daunting and I don鈥檛 envy him his success,鈥� Mr. Bragg wrote. 鈥淪ome of us just sing about making the world a better place 鈥� he now has the responsibility of delivering on that promise.鈥�

This story was reported by The Associated Press. Material from The Conversation was used in this report.