Sept. 23: Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s wafer-thin ruling majority became even more fragile on Thursday after the conservative Opposition backed out of a deal over the prized job of parliamentary Speaker. Ms Gillard’s Labour won a second term with the support of three independents and one Green legislator after dead-heat August 21 elections, giving the party control of 76 seats in the 150-seat Lower House.
But Ms Gillard must now sacrifice one legislator to be non-voting Speaker after the Opposition backed down on a deal to ensure the voting numbers remained balanced, prompting an angry response from key independent Tony Windsor.
“Their game plan now is to destroy this Parliament,” he said of the Opposition. “It was always going to be fragile and it required a bit of goodwill on both sides.” It means Ms Gillard will have only one vote to spare in the House of Representatives, further weakening her control of the first minority government since World War II. “I view this to be an extraordinary set of events,” Ms Gillard told reporters.
Opinion polls show voters do not expect the government to last a full three-year term, with the slender majority also adding to uncertainty over plans for a 30 per cent profits-based tax on miners and a policy to price carbon emissions.
While financial markets have been largely unmoved by the political upheaval The new Parliament meets on September 28, when Ms Gillard will have the first opportunity to test government numbers in the Lower House since the election.
Under a deal signed by the government, Opposition and key independent legislators in early September, all sides of politics committed to keeping the numbers balanced by granting a “pair” to whoever becomes Speaker.