Australia’s Liberal-National Coalition led by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is inching closer to securing 76 seats, which will allow it to form a government on its own, officials said on Friday.
Advertisement
His announcement was not a surprise, with Katter backing the coalition in 2010 when the nation was last faced with a hung parliament, where no single political party has a majority in the 150-seat lower house.
The government and the opposition Labor Party are now each short of the 76 seats needed to govern, and with the vote count ongoing, there is the prospect of a hung parliament.
“I remain confident that we will form a government, and we will unite the Parliament as far as we are able to”, said Mr Turnbull.
Mr Turnbull has received the backing of at least three independent MPs and is nearly certain to remain as Prime Minister even if there is a hung Parliament.
“You’d have to say that we are an election-winning machine in the Liberal Party”, Pyne said.
According to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), the government has sewn up 73 seats – three short of forming a majority government – while there are five seats in doubt.
In the list six years ago was the restoration of collective bargaining rights to Australian farmers, while he rejected support for the mining tax or carbon tax and demanded a mandate on the production of biofuels. The Coalition now has 73 seats with Labor on 66, and 5 seats held by the Greens or independents.
Malcolm Turnbull could claim government by the end of the day as postal votes flow to coalition.
‘We do not want to go back to the polls, that should not be imposed upon the Australian people.
Since Saturday’s poll, the coalition has attributed blame for its losses to a scare campaign mounted by the opposition Labor Party, which claimed the coalition lacked commitment to the country’s national healthcare system, Medicare.
While Mr Shorten did not concede defeat, he said Mr Turnbull would face many problems should he scrape back into office – not the least being “white hot anger” within Liberal ranks.
Mr Turnbull said, after meeting Ms McGowan, that she would remain “thoroughly independent” but that she “recognises the importance of a stable Parliament and she can provide support, consistent with what she’s done in the past, by supporting the government. on matters of supply and confidence”.
Turnbull’s early-election gamble, to clear the Senate of what he saw as obstructive minor parties, backfired badly with a much bigger swing to the center-left Labor opposition than expected and wins for Greens representatives and independents in both houses.
Senator Cory Bernardi (whose wife Sinéad is Irish) posted a message on his website saying the election result was a “disaster” and that it was important to unite “Australian Conservatives. regardless of their party affiliation”.
Advertisement
“It was at that point I realised that a lot of what we were campaigning on nationally just wasn’t resonating with everyday Australians. there was a disconnect”.
