Mr Turnbull is contacting cross-bench politicians who may be persuaded to support his government.
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Mr Turnbull travelled to Brisbane for talks with maverick politician Bob Katter for talks about supporting a minority government if the count from the weekend election ended with only Australia’s third hung parliament in more than a century. He gave few details but said the agreement had yet to be confirmed in writing.
“I believe that the government has won the election absolutely”. “I will maintain my right to change at any point of time in the future”.
‘The combination of a prime minister with no authority, a government with no direction and a Liberal party at war with itself will see Australians back at the polls within the year, ‘ Mr Shorten said.
The agency lowered its outlook from stable to negative, adding there was a one-in-three chance the rating could be lowered within two years if measures to improve the budget position are not passed by parliament. But as Mr Katter indicated the PM was listening very attentively to their electorate and wider concerns in conversations.
The final result from Saturday polls is still unclear, but Turnbull’s conservative coalition has lost its comfortable majority in Canberra’s 150-seat House of Representatives.
It’s now on 70 seats to Labor’s 67.
Vote counting is now focused on the 1.5 million postal and absentee votes and the process could still drag on for days, or even weeks.
Labor’s Leisa Neaton is less than 180 votes ahead of sitting Coalition MP Michelle Landry with 82.3% counted.
Counting is still taking place for six constituencies where the result is too close to call.
Nick Xenophon, whose NXT party may claim several Senate seats, are skeptical of the benefits of free trade as Australia is trying to cut deals with India and Europe to reduce its reliance on China to drive growth.
Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, projected to be re-elected with a smaller majority, is offering a larger leadership role to Peter Dutton, a long-time ally of former premier Tony Abbott, the Australian newspaper reported.
Shorten also outlined how Labor would approach the next parliament.
Analysts say a most likely outcome is that the three MPs would not enter into any formal agreement but would agree to not support any no-confidence motion vote against the government. Turnbull needs 76 seats to form a majority government.
Greens MP Adam Bandt isn’t surprised he’s yet to receive a call from Mr Turnbull, after saying the party wouldn’t support a conservative government.
Turnbull’s gamble in calling an election, ostensibly to clear the Senate of what he saw as obstructive minor parties, backfired badly with a much bigger swing to the centre-left Labor opposition than expected.
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