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Australia faces prospect of minority government
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Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard greets supporters at the opening of a new shopping mall as part of her election campaign in Sydney August 20, 2010.
Credit: Reuters/Daniel Munoz
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SYDNEY |
Fri Aug 20, 2010 2:16am EDT
SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australia could have its first minority government in 70 years and a worst-case scenario for investors, with an election-eve poll showing the ruling Labor draw level with the conservative opposition.
Assistant Treasurer Chris Bowen, a senior party strategist, said the election was so tight that a hung parliament was just a likely as either a re-elected Labor government or a victory for the conservative coalition.
"It's just so close that any of those are eminently possible," he told Reuters in a telephone interview on Friday, after a Newspoll survey showed Labor and the opposition even with 50 percent of the two-party vote.
Without a clear winner, the next government would have to rely on a handful of independent or Green MPs to form a government, leaving policies such as Labor's new mining tax in limbo and creating market uncertainty.
"Given the fact that around 40 percent of Australia's market is owned by foreign investors, any uncertainty can have a detrimental impact on markets," CommSec equities economist Savanth Sebastian told Reuters.
"If you start seeing a hung parliament or a minority victory, then the Aussie dollar could certainly come under some pressure, and likewise sharemarkets."
Even a razor-thin win by Labor Prime Minister Julia Gillard would diminish her mandate to introduce the 30 percent resource tax, the cornerstone policy of her campaign, and leave her weakened as she seeks to have a hostile Senate pass the tax.
Gillard deposed former Labor Prime Minister Kevin Rudd on June 24 in a desperate bid by the party to avoid electoral defeat, but she has struggled to woo voters, with many angry at the party coup that dumped Rudd.
A Reuters Poll Trend published on Wednesday showed Labor was poised for a narrow win, while published polls show Gillard well in front of opposition leader Tony Abbott as preferred prime minister, which could give Gillard the edge with up to 1.4 million undecided voters.
Another survey, the Galaxy poll, still tipped a narrow win for Gillard, on 52 percent against 48 percent for the conservatives, while betting agencies also show the government remains favorite.
In a unique snap poll with an Australian twist in the city of Darwin, a 4.9 meter (16 ft) saltwater crocodile, which last month tipped Spain to win the World Cup, tipped a Gillard win by chomping on a chicken carcass dangled below her image.
"YES HE CAN"
In the closing days of a five-week campaign, voter disillusionment with Labor and the conservatives has left the election result unclear.
Two of the three key independents, who may decide who takes office in the event of a hung parliament, have said they cannot guarantee passage of a minority government's budget, leaving the possibility of a fiscal crisis or a short-lived government.
One financial analyst has tipped a 2-5 percent fall in the local dollar if Australia has a minority government.
The Aussie was quoted at $0.8915 by early afternoon on Friday, down slightly from late on Thursday, while the benchmark stock index fell 1.3 percent.
Newspaper editorials were divided on Friday as to who should form Australia's next government.
Sydney's Daily Telegraph urged voters to elect a conservative government, with a front page headline "Yes He Can," borrowed from U.S. President Barack Obama's campaign line "Yes we can."
The Sydney Morning Herald said Labor "deserves a second chance" since it had successfully steered Australia through the global financial crisis. Australia was the only major developed nation to avoid recession.
Gillard and Abbott embarked on a hectic final day of campaigning in key marginal seats that will decide the result, with Abbott campaigning a marathon 36 hours without a break.
Both have also promised to cut immigration in a move to appease voter concerns over boatpeople arrivals and creaking infrastructure in major cities.
But economists fear substantial cuts in immigration will curb growth in consumer demand while reducing skilled labor needed to feed a mining boom, potentially stoking wage and price pressures.
Labor has also pledged to take action on climate change with a possible carbon trading scheme and to construct a $38 billion fiber-optic national broadband network. The Liberal-National opposition opposes these plans.
(Additional reporting by Michael Perry; Editing by Ed Davies and Sanjeev Miglani)
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See All Comments (1) | Post Comment
Aug 20, 2010 1:53am EDT
This method of deciding Australians future is a woeful waste of jingoistic appeal to our fear and encouraged division rather than a means of common purpose. Each election process becomes even more gut retchingly upsetting and divisive than the last. Scarce resources are divided between citizens based on the political angle not equity and community purpose as a whole. Old wrinkly personalities are dragged out of dusty cupboards to give a false substance to the new perpetrators of deception.
Now as with the Democrats, the so called protectors against the goliaths the Greens prove no better, with Bob Brown threatening Canberrans with the loss of 30,000 jobs if Canberrans do not vote for the Green senate candidate. Even if elected this Green Senator would not be able to stop such actions even if it was true, which is in doubt.
The nature of our Australian political system continues to prove itself to be a production line of the fear mongers and failed character.
Reason can only come from ridding ourselves of this absurdity of a Parliament & Public Service nexus of vested interest which allows sovereignty to override sanity in deciding Australians future.
Remember the four who tragically died in the implementation of the Labor inspired Pink Bats fiasco? Who are going to be held accountable for these four precious lives as we rabbit on about broadband – Labor Greens Liberal?
Lets get our priorities straight – What do we care it’s the economy stupid.
As for a crocodile selecting the winner of the Australian election Dirty Harry must have got confused, a crocodiles sense of smell is very well developed, Dirty Harry must have got a whiff of the political bodies in the cellar which overcame the crocodiles less developed commonsense.
markjuliansmith
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