“Christopher is a very confident colleague of mine and he’s entitled to express his naturally optimistic and confident view, but I’m the prime minister and we respect the votes that have been cast and one way we show that respect is by waiting for the counting to be completed”, Turnbull told reporters.
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ABC election analyst Antony Green said he could “pretty accurately predict” the Coalition would be returned to government with between 75 and 77 seats in the Lower House.
Independent Bob Katter’s support gives Turnbull’s coalition a total of 74 seats, according to the latest Australian Broadcasting Corp projections, two shy of the 76 it needs to form government outright.
Both Turnbull and Shorten said they supported an inquiry into electronic voting, amid the protracted counting process. Instead, it left Turnbull’s authority in tatters less than a year after he ousted then prime minister Tony Abbott in a party-room coup with a promise of stable government.
With these public undertakings the Governor-General can be satisfied that Mr Turnbull will deliver workable government even if the final count in doubtful seats leaves it in minority. Five others were still too close to call, it said.
“We are taking very careful note of the outcome, we respect the judgment of the people”, he said.
Mr Turnbull had not yet declared victory yesterday, but looked slightly more relaxed, or at least not as shell-shocked, as he had appeared since election day.
Part of Mr Turnbull’s upbeat outlook at coffee on Friday may have been attributed to his subsequent visit in the afternoon to Victorian independent Cathy McGowan who has committed to supporting a re-elected Turnbull government with supply and confidence.
“These are the people who feel exposed by or vulnerable to modern economics and voted Labor in the Lower House and for the socially conservative, popular right in the Upper House”, Economou told Anadolu Agency on Wednesday.
THE Coalition’s plans to resurrect the Australian Building and Construction Commission could be dead in the water if Malcolm Turnbull does not reach the numbers to lead a majority government.
Image: Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is followed by a televsion camerman as he walks to his vehicle outside his home in Sydney, Australia, July 5, 2016.
“I want to reassure them, that despite Labor not winning enough seats this time, that the Labor party will stick true to its core values, its and promises and beliefs”, he said.
The Coalition also took the lead in the Queensland seat of Capricornia, with Liberal incumbent Michelle Landry moving from 175 votes behind to 139 ahead.
Just two possibilities remain: The coalition will win by the slimmest of margins, or there will be a hung parliament.
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The minority government that Turnbull is now expected to lead will no longer have a clear mandate for his center-right Liberal-National coalition’s jobs and growth agenda, including a return to budget surplus and a A$50 billion ($37.6 billion) corporate tax break.
