New Australian PM says job now is to keep public trust

SYDNEY: Prime Minister-elect Tony Abbott said on Friday the time to savour victory was over, telling his party they had won the trust of Australia and their job now was to keep it.

The conservative, who ended six years of Labor rule in elections last weekend, was rubberstamped as Liberal leader at the first meeting of his party since being elected and told his colleagues they must deliver on their commitments.

"We have won the trust of the Australian people, our challenge now is to earn it and to keep it," Abbott said in some of his first comments since winning office as he adopts a lower-key approach after a frenetic, media-driven, election campaign.

"Our task is but briefly to savour the moment. Our task is to give a great country and a great people the better government that the people of Australia deserve.

"We will now move purposely, calmly, methodically to deliver on our election commitments to build a stronger economy for a stronger Australia."

Abbott won the election on a pledge to quickly scrap taxes on corporate pollution and mining profits imposed under Labor, introduce a costly paid parental leave scheme, halt asylum-seeker boats and build roads for the 21st century.

He said he was confident he had the team to achieve all the goals.

"This is probably as well-prepared an opposition as ever has gone into government," said Abbott, who is expected to be sworn in as new prime minister next week.

"But the task now is ahead of us, the challenges considerable -- we must stop the boats, we must scrap the carbon tax, we must build the roads, we must get the budget back into the black.

Counting of postal votes from Saturday's national polls, which saw Labor's Kevin Rudd displaced as prime minister, is still ongoing.

But with Labor conceding defeat in another two lower house seats Friday, the conservatives are on track to win 93 seats in the 150-seat House of Representatives to Labor's 53.

It gives Abbott a clear majority although the makeup of the upper house of parliament is not yet clear.

Up to seven minor party candidates could secure seats to hold the balance of power in the Senate thanks to voter dissatisfaction with the main parties -- complicating the new government's legislative push.