Source: ABC News
Well, after an anxious 17 days (and an anxious 17-minute speech by Rob Oakeshott!) we finally have a brand new Government. Well, as new as can be expected when it's the previous Government being returned to power. Yes, it was finally revealed yesterday afternoon that Julia Gillard would formally get to be Australia's first properly elected female Prime Minister, after Tony Windsor and Rob Oakeshott backed her in a minority Government. The deal basically means that Windsor and Oakeshott will support the ALP in not blocking supply, and in votes of no confidence, but aside from that, it would appear anything is possible in this new Parliament. Having said that, it would appear the Independents were able to negotiate a set of reforms to secure their support for the Government, most of which do seem to make a fair bit of logical sense.
It ended up being quite a tense day, all things considered. We'd known since the weekend that the 3 Independents were due to make their decision final at some stage this week, but that slowly dripped down to Tuesday being the big day. Then Tuesday arrived, and all looked set for the mid-afternoon press conference - that is, until Bob Katter made waves around the Canberra Press Gallery at lunch time by calling his own snap press conference, which he used to announce that he would be supporting a Coalition minority Government. Which did disappoint me slightly, given how straight-shooting Bob had been since the election. I honestly thought he would go with the ALP, but I guess in the end it would appear his decision really meant nothing in the grand scheme of things - which could be how he meant it. My gut theory tells me he knew mid-morning that both Windsor and Oakeshott were going to support the ALP in theory, and he decided to bump out early and support the Conservative side of politics to avoid upsetting his electorate. Still, I guess we'll never really know what happened that morning...
His press conference was notable for one thing, though - the fact he tried to squeeze the entire Canberra Press Gallery into his personal office, not exactly a space designed for that many people. It made for some interesting images for the day, if nothing else!
So then we came to the Windsor / Oakeshott press conference, and as was long suspected, both men backed the ALP in Government. This didn't come as a huge surprise to me, in all honesty - neither man seemed to have a great love for the Coalition, in particular the National Party, so I would have been surprised to learn that they were supporting an LNP Government. Similarly, given both of them had mentioned several times how significant they saw health & education investment, along with the NBN going ahead, it seemed clear to me that the ALP was a natural fit. The deal that they secured with Julia Gillard seems to make a lot of sense, but I guess the fear is it turns into a mini pork barreling exercise at some stage. We don't want a repeat of the National Party's regional investment funds disaster from a few years ago, I daresay. But I think it is a good idea that they were able to get this kind of simple commitment, most of which I daresay the ALP would have done anyway. And besides, if nothing else, investing in health, education, infrastructure, and the NBN is what the ALP seem to stand for at present, so it wasn't a huge leap.
The only caution I can see is that the ALP most likely won't want to spend too much time and money on regional electorates, and create a perception the inner-city electorates are "missing out". Doesn't matter how wrong such a perception might end up being, but hey - image is everything in politics!
Naturally, Tony Abbott and the rest of the LNP are "disappointed" over the decision yesterday, which I guess is LNP code for "You picked the wrong side, you bastards!". To say that Abbott will not be happy with this outcome is sure to be the understatement of 2010, and I think we're going to see a pretty concerted effort over the coming months on the part of the LNP to do whatever they can to undermine the ALP Government. We've already heard them banging on about the ALP having lost "the legitimate right to govern", and similar crap like that - I reckon we can expect to see the echo chamber gather in strength between now and Christmas, particularly as they will want to do anything they can before the new Senate sits in July 2011. The LNP will, no doubt, be helped in their efforts by a very willing and very vocal News Ltd stable of publications, and sadly I guess the ABC will give it a bit of a helping hand at times as well - using such emotive headlines as "Labor clings to power" and ""Gillard retains grip on power" (my emphasis) is hardly the most unemotive language one could use, is it? Ho hum.
And in a similar fashion, I was quite dismayed to see the level of ridicule Rob Oakeshott received for daring to speak in something more than a 30-second sound-bite as he explained his position before announcing his decision to back the ALP. Is it no wonder politicians talk the way they do? Anytime they attempt to do otherwise they cop it from all sides. His approach, while agonising for those of us watching live and gagging to hear his decision, was commendable. We need more of it. Sadly, though, the general public will just hear that "That Oakeshott bloke never shuts up!". Bah.
Well, I guess the 2010 Election saga is now over - or is it? I guess this is really just the end of Chapter 1, or maybe 2 if we assume Chapter 1 was the ALP leadership spill (with the Prologue being the first 6 months of this year). Whatever chapter number this was, I guess the next chapter is sure to be interesting, as we see our first real minority Government at a Federal level formed in several decades try to function. While I hope the ALP Government can go a full 3 year term, I am also a realist. I fully expect us to be back at the polls in the second half of 2011, maybe the first half of 2012. And if we do, it'll be because the LNP couldn't handle getting so close, and yet still being so far, that they become intolerable.
The real people I feel sorry for are the Australian people, who don't deserve a non-functioning Parliament. I hope everyone in Canberra remembers this when they resume work later this month. It's time to get on with the job, and try and make a go of this. Some exciting opportunities are ahead of us, so let's get in there and sort out the issues facing us.