By RNZ Joe Hawke – the prominent kaumātua and activist who had led the long-running Takaparawhau occupation at Auckland’s Bastion Point in the late 1970s – has died, aged 82.Born in Tāmaki Makaurau in 1940, Joseph…

There are still multiple pathways for the Labor party to form a majority government, after the Coalition's crushing election defeat and the rise of the teal independents.

A total of 67 per cent of Australians' votes have now been counted and Labor holds 71 of the 76 seats needed for a majority government.

At the time of writing there are sixteen seats still to be called, according to 9News' live tracker, with 77 Labor seats a real possibility.

READ MORE: 'Very difficult': Morrison emotional during church address

The battle lines are close in this handful of electorates and they will decide whether Prime Minister-elect Anthony Albanese forms a minority or majority government.

The seats in play are:

• Bass, Tasmania
• Bennelong, NSW
• Bradfield, NSW
• Brisbane, Queensland
• Casey, Victoria
• Deakin, Victoria
• Dickson, Queensland
• Flynn, Queensland
• Gilmore, NSW
• Lingiari, Northern Territory
• Lyons, Tasmania
• Macnamara, Victoria
• Menzies, Victoria
• Moore, Western Australia
• Richmond, NSW
• Sturt, South Australia

While it's still early days, things are looking hopeful for Labor.

The party is showing narrow leads in eight of the seats mentioned above.

READ MORE: The two men tipped to lead Liberal Party after election rout

The biggest leads are in Brisbane, Macnamara, Richmond, Lingiari and Deakin.

Should Labor win these seats it will give them the 76 needed for a majority.

LIVE COVERAGE: Liberal MP's page vanishes from internet

The seat of Sturt in WA is neck-and-neck, with Liberal candidate James Stevens and the ALP's Sonja Baram both on 50 per cent on a two-party preferred basis.

There, 68.79 per cent of votes have been counted.

The Coalition is leading in Bass, Casey, Dickson, Flynn, Menzies, Bradfield and Moore.

The federal election has been dubbed "independence day" as a wave of teal candidates took a sledgehammer and smashed through seats held in Liberal heartlands.

A huge groundswell of support for action on climate change and a federal integrity commission has swept at least nine so-called "teal independents" into power, with voters abandoning traditional Liberal candidates in droves.

All the new teal independents to win a seat have been female and almost all have displaced a male Liberal candidate.

LIVE COVERAGE: Labor basks in election win

Allegra Spender is poised to snatch Wentworth from Dave Sharma, and Monique Ryan is tipped to take Kooyong from Josh Frydenberg – who is not quite ready to concede defeat .

Kylea Tink will likely claim another former Liberal stronghold in North Sydney and Kate Chaney is eyeing off Curtain, a seat once held by former Foreign Minister Julie Bishop.

Sophie Scamps is also tipped to win Mackellar, and former ABC journalist Zoe Daniel has booted the sitting Liberal MP Tim Wilson in Goldstein.

Seats retained by climate-focused independents include Andrew Wilkie (Clark), Helen Haines (Indi) and Zali Steggall (Warringah).

Backed by like-minded political fundraising groups such as Climate 200, the teal independents have all run on a similar platform of more action on climate change and legislating a federal integrity commission that would investigate political corruption on a Commonwealth level.

They are not a political party and have not voiced which major party they would side with if they were to win a seat in the 47th Parliament.

EXPLAINER: Who are the 'teal candidates'

Speaking to 9News last night, Daniel said the community had spoken on the issues of climate change.

"This is a reflection of what the community wanted. It is really exciting," Daniel said.

"This was a deliberate decision. As someone who is a life-long swinging voter I would have never have run with one of the major parties.

"When the idea of running as an independent was presented to me I thought there was an opportunity to step up to the table."

READ MORE: The two men tipped to lead Liberal Party after election rout

SIX SEATS TEAL INDEPENDENTS HAVE GAINED

1. KOOYONG (Victoria) – Previously held by Treasurer Josh Frydenberg, the seat of Kooyong is projected to fall to teal independent Dr Monique Ryan.

A total of 67.8 per cent of votes have been counted.

2. WENTWORTH (NSW) – Wentworth takes in some of the most exclusive suburbs around Sydney Harbour, and was held by Liberal MP Dave Sharma. Teal independent Allegra Spender has claimed victory of the seat.

A total of 56.31 per cent of votes have been counted.

3. GOLDSTEIN (Victoria) – Previously held by Liberal MP Tim Wilson. Once thought to be a very safe seat, Goldstein has been claimed by teal independent Zoe Daniel.

A total of 69.52 per cent of votes have been counted.

4. NORTH SYDNEY (NSW) – Previously held by Liberal MP Trent Zimmerman as a safe Liberal seat. North Sydney has been projected as a win for teal independent Zoe Daniel.

A total of 55.95 per cent of votes have been counted.

5. MACKELLAR (NSW) – Once considered to be a very safe Liberal seat held by Jason Falinski since 2016. Mackellar is being contested by Sophie Scamps, who has amassed strong community support on the issue of climate change. She has claimed victory.

A total of 76.86 per cent of votes have been counted.

6. CURTIN (WA) – A previous Liberal-head seat in the affluent western suburbs of Perth that was held by Celia Hammond. In a surprise move teal independent Kate Chaney has produced a massive swing based on her platform of real action of climate change.

A total of 66.01 per cent of votes have been counted.

A tearful Scott Morrison has admitted to a "very difficult" time in recent years during a speech delivered at his church this morning.

Following a crushing defeat, the outgoing prime minister last night confirmed he would be stepping down as leader of the Liberal Party.

Addressing a Horizon Church service this morning, Morrison was emotional while speaking.

READ MORE: A new day in Australian politics dawns

"I'm very pleased the last thing I say as a Prime Minister is here," he told the congregation.'

"The last election, we really understood that it was for such a time as this. Now we both know it was for such a time as that.

"It has been a very difficult walk, I have got to tell you, over the last four years.

"God calls us, if you are a prime minister, pastor, running a business, teaching in schools, working in the police force. It doesn't matter.

"We are called to trust and obey.

"That is the life of faithfulness. We live our faith each and every day."

READ MORE: The two men tipped to lead Liberal Party after election rout

While Morrison confirmed he would handover the party leadership, he suggested he would remain in politics after being re-elected in Cook.

This morning, former Labor adviser and journalist Sean Kelly said he can see Morrison staying in parliament.

"There was something in Scott Morrison's speech last night that almost suggested he'd come back in the future," Kelly told Weekend Today.

"He said the right things, he said them quickly, he certainly didn't concede anything that could be held against him in future so there was some part in the back of my mind that thought he's thinking about the future already.

"I think Scott Morrison, for all his faults, is sincere when he says he wants to serve the community, so I can see him staying in parliament."

READ MORE: Biloela family hoping 'long, painful saga' will end after Labor's win

How Morrison conceded defeat

Morrison conceded the election after it became clear the Coalition had no path to victory, even as a minority government.

Speaking at a function in Sydney's Fullerton Hotel, Morrison said as leader of the party he takes responsibility for its "wins and losses".

He added he was proud of the policies he delivered while in government.

FEDERAL ELECTION 2022: Full results, seats won, party votes total and swings by electorate

He said he would hand over the leadership at the next party room meeting as that would be the "appropriate thing to do".

"On a night like tonight it is appropriate to acknowledge the functioning of our democracy," Morrison said. 

"I have always believed in Australians and their judgment and I have always been prepared to accept their verdicts and tonight they have delivered their verdict. 

"I congratulate Anthony Albanese and the Labor Party and I wish him and the Labor Party and I wish him and his government all the very best."

He said the COVID-19 pandemic has "imposed a heavy price" on Australia but said he "still believes in miracles".

READ MORE: Frydenberg not ready to concede defeat in Kooyong

"There is another great miracle which I want to give thanks for tonight and that is the miracle of the Australian people," he said. 

"What Australians have endured over these past few years has shown a tremendous depth of character and resilience and strength and each and every day I have had the great privilege to lead this nation over the last more than three-and-a-half years. 

"And the one thing I have always counted on has been the strength and resilience and character of the Australian people."

Morrison said while the bruising election defeat was a "difficult time" for Liberal and Nationals supporters, he has no doubt that Australia is stronger as a result of his leadership.

"Tonight it is a night of disappointment for Liberals and Nationals but it is also a time for Coalition members and supporters all across the country to hold their heads high," he said. 

"We have been a strong government. We have been a strong government. We have been a good government.

"Australia is stronger as a result of our efforts over these last three terms."

By Tessa Guest of RNZ A Christchurch tourist attraction which has offended customers for years is still running after delaying promised updates.First opened in 2006, the Time Tunnel (soon to be renamed the Discovery Ride) is a…

A Tamil asylum seeker family living in limbo for the past four years has expressed hope Labor's election win means they will soon be able to return to the Queensland community they call home.

Labor promised during the campaign if it won the election the Murugappan family could return home to Biloela, ending their long legal battle to remain in Australia.

Following the win of Prime Minister-elect Anthony Albanese, family friend Angela Fredericks said the family was overjoyed their "long, painful saga" could now come to an end.

LIVE COVERAGE: A new day in Australian politics dawns

"We just called Priya in Perth and told her she and her family were coming home," Fredericks said in a statement.

"Many happy tears were shed.

"This family has been taken away from their home for more than four years.

"They never should have been taken from the town that loved and needed them.

"As they make the long journey to Biloela to resume their lives here they also commence a journey of recovery and healing."

READ MORE: Two men named in running for Morrison's job

Before his election loss, Scott Morrison had ruled out interfering in the family's case.

"They have not been afforded the status of refugees. So they're not refugees. That is what the courts have found," he said on Friday.

"If you grant visas to people who have illegally entered Australia, you may as well start writing the prospectus for people smugglers."

READ MORE: How your electorate is voting this election

The Murugappan family was removed from their home Biloela in 2018 and sent to immigration detention on Christmas Island, following the expiration of their visa.

In 2021, they were temporarily relocated to Perth after their youngest daughter Tharnicaa was hospitalised with a suspected blood infection.

They were later granted year-long visas to remain in community detention in Perth while their legal challenges played out in court.

Priya and Nades' daughters, Kopika and Tharnicaa, were both born in Australia after the couple arrived in Australia by boat seeking asylum.

Priya and Nades are both Tamil, a group that has been persecuted in Sri Lanka.

A car has turned turtle on Cobham Drive near the Palmerston overbridge in Wellington, blocking part of the road.A police spokeswoman said police were notified of the crash around 12.20pm.”The car has gone off the road and rolled….

A partial skull that was discovered last summer by two kayakers in Minnesota will be returned to Native American officials after investigations determined it was about 8000 years old.

The kayakers found the skull in the drought-depleted Minnesota River about 180 kilometres west of Minneapolis, Renville County Sheriff Scott Hable said.

Thinking it might be related to a missing person case or murder, Hable turned the skull over to a medical examiner and eventually to the FBI, where a forensic anthropologist used carbon dating to determine it was likely the skull of a young man who lived between 5500 and 6000 BC, Hable said.

READ MORE: Scott Morrison concedes the election, steps down as leader

"It was a complete shock to us that that bone was that old,” Hable told Minnesota Public Radio.

The anthropologist determined the man had a depression in his skull that was “perhaps suggestive of the cause of death”.

After the sheriff posted about the discovery on Wednesday, his office was criticised by several Native Americans, who said publishing photos of ancestral remains was offensive to their culture.

Hable said his office removed the post.

"We didn’t mean for it to be offensive whatsoever,” Hable said.

Hable said the remains will be turned over to Upper Sioux Community tribal officials.

Minnesota Indian Affairs Council Cultural Resources Specialist Dylan Goetsch said in a statement that neither the council nor the state archaeologist were notified about the discovery, which is required by state laws that govern the care and repatriation of Native American remains.

FEDERAL ELECTION 2022: Full results, seats won and who will be the next Liberal leader

Goetsch said the Facebook post “showed a complete lack of cultural sensitivity” by failing to call the individual a Native American and referring to the remains as “a little piece of history”.

Kathleen Blue, a professor of anthropology at Minnesota State University, said Wednesday that the skull was definitely from an ancestor of one of the tribes still living in the area, The New York Times reported.

She said the young man would have likely eaten a diet of plants, deer, fish, turtles and freshwater mussels in a small region, rather than following mammals and bison on their migrations.

“There’s probably not that many people at that time wandering around Minnesota 8000 years ago, because, like I said, the glaciers have only retreated a few thousands years before that,” Blue said.

“That period, we don’t know much about it.”

All Budgets are about economics and politics, and 2022’s was no different. The Labour Government continued its economic rebuild through commitments to infrastructure and industry, low- and middle-income earners’ living costs, and…

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg says he is not ready to concede defeat in his seat of Kooyong.

Speaking to the media this morning, Frydenberg said 16,000 postal votes were still to be counted in Kooyong, which amounted to 12 per cent of the overall vote.

"It is mathematically possible that I could retain Kooyong, but it is obviously very, very difficult," he said.

FEDERAL ELECTION 2022: Full results, seats won and who will be the next Liberal leader

"That being said, I will wait until more postal votes are counted before saying any more about the particular results in Kooyong.

Frydenberg was asked if Scott Morrison was to blame for the Coalition's crushing defeat.

He responded by saying there were "a lot of factors" involved, and he remained loyal to Morrison in order to provide stability to the country's leadership.

"I think he has provided outstanding leadership, extraordinary leadership in extraordinary times," Frydenberg said.

"There was no playbook for the pandemic."

With just over 67.8 per cent of the vote counted, teal independent Monique Ryan is ahead of Frydenberg on preferences by a projected 54.4 per cent to 45.6 per cent.

FEDERAL ELECTION 2022: Full results, seats won, party votes total and swings by electorate

Speaking at her campaign headquarters last night, Ryan all but claimed victory.

"We don't have a concession (from Josh) we don't have an answer tonight but I think we know what will happen," she said.

"Kooyong has changed forever."

She said the "climate" had changed in the seat.

LIVE UPDATES: Albanese to be next PM

Speaking to Nine, Ryan wouldn't commit to supporting a Liberal minority government despite pointed questioning from former Foreign Minister Julie Bishop.

"At this point I'll continue to say what I've said throughout the campaign, that I will talk to either of the major party in that instance about the things that matter to the electorate of Kooyong and I will deliver on those things for the people of Kooyong," she said.

"The people of Kooyong have not brought the sitting member back at this point. If they have elected me, then they have elected me because they want action on climate change and an integrity commission and those are the things that I will try to deliver for them."

READ MORE: Teal independents on track to claim huge number of seats

Frydenberg was elected as MP for Kooyong in 2010, and was appointed Treasurer and deputy Liberal leader under Scott Morrison in 2018.

He was considered a potential leader-in-waiting of the Liberal party, but his likely exit from Parliament would leave Defence Minister Peter Dutton in the box seat.

READ MORE: Queensland's One Nation Party inspires 'anti-mandate' vote