SYDNEY—Australian voters are the winners in the 2010 Federal elections as key independents give Labor the numbers to form a minority government, Tuesday, Sept. 7. Julia Gillard has become the first elected female Prime Minister in Australia.
New South Wales Regional independents Tony Windsor and Rob Oakeshott chose to support the current government, giving Labor 76 to the Coalition’s 74 seats.
Earlier Tuesday, Queensland independent Bob Katter selected to side with the Coalition, telling reporters in Canberra that his decision had ultimately been about adding up the columns for either side on his 20-point plan.
The two NSW independents said they had made their decision based on the belief that Labor would be less interested than the coalition in going back to the polls quickly.
“Longevity is the key to this,” Tony Windsor told a packed press conference.
Rob Oakeshott said stability had been an overriding factor in his decision and, now that it was made, he was looking forward to a vibrant parliamentary term.
"It's going to be ugly, but it's going to be beautiful in its ugliness," he said.
Analysts say Australian voters have been the winners in the 2010 electoral outcome.
Rather than heralding a fearful period of instability, the fragility of Labor’s hold in the lower house, (the House of Representatives), will revitalize the role of parliament and see a new era in democratic process, says Dr. Ian Cook, lecturer in politics at Murdoch University.
While the present situation may be unsettling in its unpredictability, there will be benefits for Australian people, he said, particularly in the area of broad, informed debate. The different parties will have to be convincing in Parliament, if they want their agendas to be taken seriously and, while that may take time, it will allow Parliament to be the forum it was set up to be.
“I think it is a really important and positive situation for Australian politics, because slowly we are seeing Parliament playing a significant role in the formation of government,” he told The Epoch Times.
Voter Dissatisfaction
Dr. Cook says he was not surprised that the NSW independents had chosen Labor, despite general assumptions that both MP’s represented conservative constituents.
“We have seen significant shifts in population in that part of NSW,” he said, “so I think the assumption that they are in highly conservative regional seats is not convincing.”
Professor Clem Macintyre, head of politics at the University of Adelaide, says under the present configuration legislation will require much negotiation and compromise for Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, but he sees that as a good thing.
“That means that no one party is able to dominate the agenda in either the House of Representatives or the Senate and I don’t actually have a problem with that,” he said.
Both political analysts agree that voters have sent a clear message to their politicians that they were not happy with either party, referring to swings away from both Labor and Liberal parties, depending on the region.
“I think the parliament is a pretty fair reflection of the mood of the community at the last election,” Professor Macintyre said.
Parliamentary Reform
The changes include limiting questions at Question Time to 45 seconds and answers to four minutes; an independent speaker; an integrity commissioner; elevation of private members business and a new parliamentary budget office.
There will also be an acknowledgment of country, (the traditional caretakers of the land) prior to prayers on each sitting day.
Regional independent Rob Oakeshott said the reforms represented "an important moment in the history of the Australian parliament."
"The Australian political system up until now has been overly dominated by the executive and the parliament has played a secondary role to the executive (and) the ministers," he said.
"That's going to change."
Mr. Oakeshott said key to his decision had been Labor’s plan for a national broadband network, climate change, and education.
The independents’ decision comes 17 days after the federal election left both major parties short of a majority for the first time since World War II.
