After a hasty six-week election campaign by Labor’s Julia Gillard and Liberal’s Tony Abbott, the Australian public failed to give a definite preference of Government, leaving the country in limbo and without a Prime Minister for at least another 48 hours.
As of 1.30pm Sunday Gillard secured 70 seats and Abbott 72 in the 150-seat House of Representatives. In order to win power, 76 seats must be won by one party, giving that party a majority Government.
For the first time in 70 years Australia is facing the prospect of a hung-parliament , whereby the two major parties will form a minority government, with the balance of power held by the four independents and one Green MP.
The last time a hung-parliament emerged was in 1940 when Robert Menzies’s United Australia Party and the Country Party clung to power, with the support of independents.
Today, the burning question of who will become Prime Minister is yet to be decided. The hopes lie on the shoulders of independents—Bob Katter, Rob Oakeshott and Tony Windsor. Also in the mix is former intelligence officer Andrew Wilkie who looks likely to win the Tasmanian seat of Denison as an independent.
The four men are expected to hold a telephone conference tonight to decide which party they will give preference to, as Abbott and Gillard nervously await the result.
Newly elected Greens MP for Melbourne, Adam Bandt, has already said he would support Labor.
Mr Katter, Mr Oakeshott and Mr Windsor all have a background in the National Party, which historically backed the Coalition. However, this time their direction may go either way. Mr Wilkie has previously stood for the Greens—a past ally of Labor, which may give Gillard a much needed boost.
Mr Katter, the independent Member for Kennedy in north Queensland, highlighted broadband as one of the key issues that will be contested in the looming negotiation with Labor-Liberal heavyweights.
“The issue of broadband is very, very important for us and a privatised broadband—I mean, please, don’t even talk about it,” he told ABC news.
“Privatised Telstra’s been absolutely disastrous for rural Australia.”
The $38-billion National Broadband Scheme was proposed by the Labor Government in 2009, as a solution to Australia’s slow, or in some remote areas absent, internet connection.
However, the scheme met vast opposition from the Coalition, who blasted the proposal as too expensive and ineffective. They suggested an alternative plan that would cost a maximum A$6.3 billion over seven years and will rely on private companies to roll out a mix of satellite, fibre-optic and wireless technology across the country.
Independent member for the northern New South Wales seat of New England, Tony Windsor, agrees saying the issue of National Broadband is “one of great significance”.
“There’s probably more people who supported a national roll out of the broadband network than didn’t in terms of the way the nation voted,” he said in the ABC report.
“We’re going to make sure whatever it is, it can work, because we’re talking about the government of Australia here, not who won a prize on a night,” ABC quotes Mr Windsor.
Australia was thrown into political disarray in June when the then-leading Labor Government dumped Kevin Rudd as Prime Minister, after he failed to unite the Labor Party on key issues like the Emission Trading Scheme.
Julia Gillard was voted by Labor as the interim leader and became Australia’s first female Prime Minister. She held power for just 57 days, now finding herself the underdog in one of the country’s most controversial elections.
