Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on Sunday said his conservative coalition would remain in power for a second three-year term following the country’s tight national election.
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Labor leader Bill Shorten this afternoon conceded defeat, saying although counting was still under way, it was clear Mr Turnbull would form either a minority or majority government.
Mr Shorten spoke with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on Sunday to congratulate him on the coalition win. “The most important people to thank are the Australian people because we have resolved this election and have done so peacefully”, Turnbull, 61, said.
Turnbull had dissolved both houses of the parliament in May and called for snap elections, confident that his ruling coalition would clinch an outright win.
Although Turnbull is expected to form a majority government, he is likely to be forced to depend on several independent members to get legislation through the lower house, raising questions about the long-term functioning of his government.
Labor is now on 66 seats.
“I hope for the nation’s sake that the Coalition does a good job”, he said.
“It is my commitment to work in every way possible to ensure that the crossbenchers have access to all of the information they need and all of the resources they need to be able to play the role they need in this parliament”, he said. The elections were held last Saturday. Uncertainty surrounding the election prompted rating agency Standard & Poor’s to downgrade Australia’s coveted AAA credit rating on Thursday from “stable” to “negative”.
He also said it was time Australia considered ditching its pencil-and-paper ballots for a speedier electronic system.
In 2013, Mr Turnbull said electronic voting should be considered as a way to reduce the number of informal votes. “It shouldn’t be taking eight days to find out who has won”.
Turnbull said he also wanted to investigate the regulation of “robocalls” and text messages sent out by political parties during election campaigns.
“So, for those that want to cause maximum mayhem in the parliament we won’t be part of that”, said Xenophon.
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Turnbull had managed to get the top position only after a leadership contest within his party, ousting the then-leader of the Liberal Party, Tony Abbott, in September 2015.
