Guess what? It's split 50/50 (no joke!)
Give us $1b a year: Katter
Key MP shuns offer from Labor
Andrew Darby, Michelle Grattan and Tim Colebatch
September 1, 2010
Key independent MP Andrew Wilkie, has announced he remains unconvinced about backing Julia Gillard or Tony Abbott.
JULIA Gillard has failed in an initial bid to win the backing of key Tasmanian independent MP Andrew Wilkie, as negotiations intensify over who will form the next Australian government.
Hours after Ms Gillard yesterday pitched a parliamentary reform agenda aimed at securing the support of non-aligned MPs, Mr Wilkie said Labor's written response to a list of issues he had raised was unacceptable.
Rural independents' decision is likely by Friday
''I've now received a formal proposal from the ALP for my support,'' Mr Wilkie told The Age in Hobart last night. ''It's confidential, and unacceptable to me,'' he said. ''I'm now waiting for one from the Coalition.'' ...<cont>
)Family First still in with a chance for Senate place
Jacob Saulwick
September 1, 2010
Senator Steve Fielding could yet be returned to Parliament.
For all the delay and confusion about the make-up of the lower house, the election result for the Senate is mostly straightforward, with results tallied in almost all states.
... In Victoria, however, one position remains up for grabs, and it has come down to a three-cornered contest between the Family First senator and candidates for the Liberals and the Democratic Labor Party.
Senator Steve Fielding. Photo: Glen McCurtayne
With almost 80 per cent of the Victorian Senate vote counted, the DLP candidate, John Madigan, holds the spot and the political obituaries for Senator Fielding have already started.
But, partly because of the complicated nature of the voting system, the winner of the final Victorian spot will not be known for at least a week.
The ABC's election analyst, Antony Green, said he favoured the Liberal senator Julian McGauran to hold on.
''Either Fielding or the DLP or the Coalition will win that last seat, and I'd say the Coalition,'' Mr Green said.
''As the vote is counted, we've got postals and absent votes yet to be counted, the Liberal vote will be increased slightly as a proportion and the minor party vote will drop,'' he said.
Under the Senate voting system, candidates with the lowest number of votes are progressively knocked out and their preferences fed to candidates with more votes.
On the current vote, Senator Fielding stands to be knocked out in the 22nd round of counting. But should he bridge a 3500 vote gap to Mr Madigan, he stands a good chance of using his DLP preferences to vault over the remaining candidates. ..<cont>
Labor, Greens strike alliance deal for stable government
* From: The Australian
* September 01, 2010 10:14AM
Julia Gillard prepares to shake hands with Greens leader Bob Brown on their alliance. Picture: Ray Strange Source: The Australian
THE Greens have struck a formal deal with Labor to govern but the fate of Australia's next prime minister still lies with the independents.
"The Greens will ensure supply and oppose any motions of no-confidence in the government from other parties or MPs,'' Senator Brown said at a media conference in Canberra a short time ago.
"Labor will work with the Greens to deliver improved transparency and integrity to parliament."
The Greens-ALP deal includes a climate change committee to consider a price on carbon, immediate reform to political donations, a full parliamentary debate on Afghanistan, a leaders debate commission and agreement on a private members' bill to debate above-the-line voting.
When parliament is sitting, the prime minister will meet Greens leader Bob Brown and their lone lower house MP Adam Bandt each week.
The deal does not include a cabinet position for a Green.
And there is no agreement from Labor to set a carbon price, with Senator Brown today denying the Greens had put that demand on hold in order to ensure the trio of country independents could reach an agreement with Labor.
He said the proposed climate change committee would be ready to go by the end of the month, describing it as an amalgam of Greens and Labor policy.
The make-up of the committee had not yet been confirmed. And when asked if the committee meant Julia Gillard's much-derided citizens assembly on climate had been scrapped, Senator Brown said: "That's a question for the Prime Minister." ...<cont>
