FEATURE: Australia in political limbo

Australian voters have delivered what seems to be the country's first hung parliament since 1940.

Linda Mottram

Last Updated: Sun, 22 Aug 2010 13:00:00 +1000

Warnings that Australia's 2010 general election would be extremely close have been born out in dramatic style, with the prospect of a hung Parliament and drawn out negotiations with independents in a bid to form a new government.

With more than 77 per cent of the vote counted, neither Julia Gillard's Labor Party nor the Liberal-National Coalition under Tony Abbott have won the 76 seats needed in the 150 seat House of Representatives to form government.

Days or weeks of counting of pre-poll and postal votes will now ensue, followed by the very strong possibility that a government will only be formed when one of the major parties reaches a deal with up to six non-aligned MPs.

Voting all day Saturday was followed by an inconclusive night of vote counting.

Just eight weeks after overthrowing her predecessor, Kevin Rudd, and five weeks after rushing to the polls, Julia Gillard spoke publicly not long before midnight, unable to claim the second term for Labor that has become the virtual birthright of Australian governments.

"Obviously this is too close to call, there are many seats where the result is undecided and where it will take a number of days to determine the result," she said.

"What we know is there will be a number of independents in the House of Representatives playing a role as the next government of Australia is formed," said Ms Gillard, adding there would be "anxious days ahead."

Ms Gillard also paid tribute to the fighting Opposition leader Tony Abbott, who despite a reputation for politically damaging loose talk, ran a highly disciplined campaign and reversed the Liberal National Party coalition's electoral fortunes from the deep malaise that followed it's 2007 defeat.

Declaring the Coalition back in business, Mr Abbott also underlined what has been evident in the electorate, that a series of policy debacles by Labor, capped by the ousting of Kevin Rudd as leader, had left voters angry and determined to punish Labor.

"This election has to some extent at least been a referendum on the political execution of a prime minister," Mr Abbott said, as his ecstatic followers chanted "Tony, Tony".

The biggest backlash against the governing Labor Party was in the states Queensland, New South Wales and Western Australia.

But not all the benefit flowed to the Liberal-National Coalition.

The Greens vote surged, delivering the party their first MP to be elected at a general election and increasing from five to ten the total number of Green representatives in both the House of Representatives and the Senate.

As well as the Green MP, the major parties will be negotiating with up to five other non-aligned or cross-bench MPs on policy demands that might be met in exchange for political backing.

But the risk is that the coalition building will prove unstable, bringing a degree of uncertainty in Australian politics rarely seen.

"It could go for three years," said political analyst Zareh Ghazarian from Deakin University.

"History suggests however that generally, in situations like this where no major party holds a majority, they are short-lived governments and we'll probably be going to the polls sooner rather than later," he told ABC television.

Other notable results from the vote include the election of the first indigenous member of the House of Representatives and a 20 year old who was too young to vote at the last election three years ago. The new Parliament will also have it's first Muslim MP, a non-practicing son of Bosnian parents.

Australia has 14 million enrolled electors. Voting is compulsory. Labor, which won by a very large majority in 2007, will continue in office in what is called care-taker mode so that normal government functions can be carried out, but with no new initiatives allowed.

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