If you are planning an Australian migration, then you are probably keeping a close eye to the country these past two months. And one of the things that you might be paying a lot of attention in would be the recent federal elections. Indeed, this one was quite a cliffhanger event because of the results.
But now, two weeks after the election, things are slowly going back to normal in the country's political scene. And with that, the leadership issue is now also being settled. It is now clear that Julia Gillard will still remain as the country's Prime Minister.
It can be recalled the Gillard called for elections last July 17. this was then promptly held on August 21, with more than 14 million Australians heading to the polling precinct. And as of the latest results on Aug. 30, both Gllard's Labor Party and the Liberal Party, headed by Tony Abbott, were able to secure 72 seats each in the House of Representatives, with the remaining five seats going to to an Australian Greens member and four independents.
As this one has resulted into a so called hung parliament, both parties raced to convince these independents to side with them. In the meantime, in accordance to the Australian constitution, Gillard and the Labor Party remained in power, albeit this time only as a caretaker government until the leadership question has been resolved.
The lone Greens Representative Adam Bandt was the first one to swing his support to the Labor Party. He has already said prior to the elections that he is going to align himself with Labor in case of a hung parliament. As he made his declaration official a few days back, his colleagues in the Greens party have also decide to throw their support to Gillard.
On the other hand, independent Representatives Rob Oakeshott and Tony Windsor earlier said that they will back the party who will be able to form a stable government. On Sept. 8 both Oakeshott and Windsor announced that they will be giving their support to the Labor Party, after securing funding agreements for several key rural projects. On the other hand, Bob Katter is the only independent that swung to the favor of the Liberal Party.
However, some political analysts cautioned that, despite being able to form a government, Gillard's administration is still far from stable. As the Greens and the independents now hold the balance, it is likely that they will use this to influence government policies. Thus Gillard will still have a hard time devising policies solely based on Labor's perspective.
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