Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard won the support of a key independent MP yesterday, leaving her just two seats from regaining power and within reach of ending a crippling political crisis.
Former Iraq war whistle-blower Andrew Wilkie said Ms Gillard’s centre-left Labour party was best placed to deliver a “stable” and “competent” government.
“I have judged that it is the Australian Labour Party that best meets my criteria that the next government must be stable, must be competent and must be ethical,” Mr Wilkie told journalists in Canberra.
Mr Wilkie’s vote gives Ms Gillard 74 seats in the 150-member lower house, just shy of an absolute majority of 76. However, Tony Abbott’s opposition coalition remains in the hunt with 73 seats and three independents still undecided.
Mr Wilkie urged the three remaining “kingmakers” to make their move soon, after nearly two weeks of political paralysis following the cliffhanger poll.
“I hope that this sends a signal to the other three independents and they move as soon as they can to make their decisions, and to decide to support a party or parties in a way that will bring stability to the parliament,” he said.
The final three independents – rural MPs Tony Windsor and Rob Oakeshott, and maverick Queenslander Bob Katter – have pledged to begin formal negotiations today.
Momentum is now firmly behind Ms Gillard, Australia’s first woman Prime Minister, after she confirmed the support of parliament’s lone Greens MP on Wednesday.
Ms Gillard also received a boost when the opposition was accused of a policy blow-out of up to $10 billion, prompting the remaining independents to question Mr Abbott’s trustworthiness.
“Essentially what we’re after... is a judgment on two different teams that want to be the government for the next period of three years,” Mr Windsor said.
“One of those things that we have to establish is trust in what they’re actually saying.”
Coalition finance spokesman Andrew Robb dismissed the blow-out as a “difference of opinion”, saying the Treasury used different models and data to assess the costs of policies pledged during campaigning.
Bookmakers said the costings dispute had shortened Ms Gillard’s odds of remaining as prime minister, although prices are swinging wildly and Abbott remains the narrow favourite.