Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard and opposition leader Tony Abbott promised to fight to form the next government after no party had a majority in a national election for the first time in 70 years. This is the first federal election in my memory, where it looks as though Australia is a hung parliament – according to the Australian election pundit, Antony Green. This means that the Australian House of Representatives, the lower house, neither of the parties to form a government, and sit on the Treasury benches that none of the major parties have 76 or more members in their own right.
Gillard, 48, and Abbott, 52, to broker deals with other legislators to pass legislation that threatens a planned 30 percent tax on iron ore and coal profits at companies including BHP Billiton Ltd. and Rio Tinto Group. Abbott has promised toabolish the tax mining, first proposed by former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, who was overthrown by Gillard as his popularity fell.
74.7 percent of the vote counted in two-party preferred basis,Abbott’s Liberal-National coalition has 71 and Gillard’s Labor Party have 71 seats of the 150 member House of Representatives, according to the Australian Electoral Commission website. Four seats are uncertain, and three independent and a Green Party member was elected in this election. Seventy-six seats in the House of Representatives needed to form a government, and vote counting will be resumed tomorrow.
