Labor Retains Power in Australia, Barely

Julia Gillard will remain Australia's prime minister, but only by the narrowest of margins. After 17 days of negotiations, two independent members of the House of Representatives from rural Australia and the Green Party's single member backed the Labor Party to give Ms. Gillard the 76 out of 150 seats needed to govern. Another independent backed the opposition Liberal-National Coalition. While this resolves the electoral deadlock, it is unlikely that this government will survive more than a few months.

Independent MPs Tony Windsor and Rob Oakeshott held a press conference in Canberra several hours ago that could easily have been the final episode of some TV reality-talent program to announce their decision. They joined the Greens' Adam Bandt, Tasmanian independent Andrew Wilkie (the hero who resigned from Australia's intelligence service just before the Iraq-Nam War on the grounds that there was no immediate threat from Saddam) and Western Australia National Tony Crook in supporting the Labor Party. Precisely what deal they took remains unclear (the Speaker's Chair, a minister's job?), but Labor's National Broadband Network played a key role. Rural Australia needs this to get broadband Internet, and while that may seem trivial to those in cities, the future of communications and business demands it -- this will help rural Australia join and remain part of the 21st century.

One must not forget that the Coalition led by Tony Abbott won more of the popular vote and secured one more seat in the lower house of parliament. This undermines the democratic legitimacy of the new government. "The Coalition won more votes and more seats than our opponents, but sadly, we did not get the opportunity to form a government," Mr. Abbott said. "Obviously I'm disappointed about that, but that's our system." That system also demands that the government prevail on serious votes. With only 76 seats, even two defections will sink it.

Independent MP Bob Katter backed the Coalition shortly before the Oakeshott-Windsor announcement. He has since said he could offer the government his support in the interests of stability and sound government. It appears his decision was partially based on Ms. Gillard's overthrow of her predecessor Kevin Rudd. "Kevin's thinking and my thinking are very similar, I'm very good friends with him," said Mr. Katter.

So, there it stands. Ms. Gillard has retained her job, and that means she can go ahead with not only the broadband proposal but also with a 30% tax on iron ore and coal mining companies' profits, and a tax on major polluters to help cut carbon emissions by 5% by 2020. She had better hurry because two by-elections from now, she could be leader of the opposition.

© Copyright 2010 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Ubuntu Linux.

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