Country MPs critical in hung parliament

In scenes reminiscent to the 2010 federal election where balance of power negotiations extended for 17-days, none of the major parties won a clear majority in the House of Representatives on election night.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said he remained confident the Coalition could still form a majority government by claiming the 76 seats needed to take control in the Lower House.

The best Labor can hope for is to form a minority government in needing the support of potentially five crossbench MPs to pass legislation.

With voting due to continue on Tuesday after collecting postal votes and processing declarations, the Australian Electoral Commission had the Coalition on 67 seats, Labor on 71, with six undetermined seats and independent or minor party members on six.

Of the six undetermined seats, five are held by the Coalition while the AEC also had the Nick Xenophon Team (NXT) as having two seats.

But the NXT is more likely to claim just one place after claiming the SA rural seat of Mayo that was previously considered a safe Liberal electorate but lost by disgraced former cabinet minister Jamie Briggs.

Tasmanian Independent MP Andrew Wilkie and Greens Melbourne MP Adam Bandt are unlikely to support the Coalition, to break the deadlock.

But Victorian Independent MP Cathy McGowan, Queensland Independent MP Bob Katter and new NTX Rebekha Sharkie may be critical votes for the Coalition in forming government.

Analysts say a most likely outcome is that the three MPs would not enter into any formal agreement but would agree to not support any no-confidence motion vote, against the government.

In 2010, Mr Katter joined fellow rural independents Tony Windsor and Rob Oakeshott in the tense balance of power talks but eventually chose not to side with Labor to form a minority government, after submitting a list of 20 core demands to party leaders.

In that list six years ago was the restoration of collective bargaining rights to Australian farmers while he also rejected support for the mining tax or carbon tax and demanded a mandate on the production of biofuels.

“Where a majority of farmers in an industry request collective bargaining arrangements, they be provided,” his list of demands said.

Mr Katter is expected to use another wish-list of policy demands in any talks to form government after this year’s election which would again seek a mandate on biofuels, and tighter foreign investment controls.

He’s also likely to look favourably on a Coalition election policy proposal announced by Nationals’ leader and Agriculture and Water Resources Minister Barnaby Joyce to implement a Regional Investment Corporation (RIC).

The RIC’s aim is to streamline administration of Commonwealth funded drought concessional support for loans, through a central agency, rather than a mishmash of State and Territory governments.

Mr Katter would likely see that move as a means of providing more immediate financial support for farmers in any financial distress, which may also be backed by Nick Xenophon.

The Kennedy MP has also indicated he and the NXT would seek stronger protections for Australian manufacturing industries but said he would “spit upon” any offer to be the speaker in the House of Representatives.

“Australia (is) not for sale - nor am I,” he said on Sunday.

Mr Katter said he and Senator Xenophon and Mr Wilkie were now in, “a very powerful position” post-election.

“Our farmers get 5 per cent of their income from the government - all the other farmers on Earth get 41pc of their income from the government,” he said.

“You remove all the protection and slave labour wage level products that are most unhealthy and environmentally unfriendly are pouring into this country, destroying all of our industries.

“We have nothing we can sell now and we have to buy everything from overseas

“What do you do when you're in that situation - you have to sell the farm, don't you?”

Mr Katter was returned to his far north Queensland seat of Kennedy with an 11pc swing at this year’s election after it was almost won by the Nationals in 2013.

Live animal exports is an area where the five crossbench MPs hold varying views with the Greens, Mr Wilkie and Senator Xenophon both supporting a phase-out of the trade, while Mr Katter is a strong supporter.

.

Ms McGowan has made several representations to the Coalition government about the need to improve animal welfare standards in live exports and lists it under her policy for agriculture and food manufacturing.

But the Indi MP said she would not be making any deals with any major political party with the Prime Minister being confident of forming a majority government.

Ms McGowan said she would remain in touch with Mr Turnbull over the coming days as the national situation remained fluid, as vote counting continues.

“There’s no truth to the rumour that I’m going to become the speaker - I’m very happy being the member for Indi - that’s 100pc of my focus,” she said.

“I’ll look at everything as it comes across - but clearly the PM is confident that he’s going to form a majority government.

“We’ve got a very good working relationship – he knows Indi.

“It’s a very, very fluid situation and we’ll wait and see how it plays out - clearly I’ve got a lot to contribute working with the government.”

Mr Wilkie said he’d spoken to Mr Turnbull and Opposition leader Bill Shorten and characterised his conversations with both leaders as opening up the channels of communication and they both saw the crossbench as “relevant”.

He said he wouldn’t be doing any deals with either side, having learned a lesson form the 43rd parliament, where he had a deal for the first 18-months but not after that.

Mr Wilkie said during the 18-month period when he didn’t have a deal, he was more true to the idea of being an independent member and was more effective in Canberra representing his electorate.

“I learned that if you’ve got a deal, it’s good for the government but you run the risk of being taken for granted,” he said.

Mr Joyce said Mr Katter and Senator Xenophon’s team would try and make decisions that worked best for themselves - but they also needed to reflect on what’s best for the nation and “the natural inclinations of their constituencies”.

“We can genuinely say the best outcome for their constituencies is to have a Liberal/National government,” he said.

“If you look at Bob Katter’s area I don’t think they’d be too keen to bring back the people who banned the live cattle trade and down south in the seat of Mayo there are many people who want a strong future in agriculture and that’s our strong suit.”

Mr Joyce said the SA seat of Grey where the NXT could potentially win another electorate off the Liberals was also “a big regional seat” where voters had similar, fundamental values to the Coalition.

“Sealing the roads, building dams, maintaining the live cattle trade, standing behind rural exports and rolling out mobile phone towers - these are Coalition attributes,” he said.

“If I was negotiating with the independents and I’m not, I’d say, ‘tell me about Labor’s agricultural policy because do they have one? And tell me about Labor’s regional policy; do they have one?”

Mr Joyce said Ms McGowan’s electorate had been the beneficiary of over 30 new and updated mobile phone towers “and that’s the policy of the Liberal/National party”.

Despite the close election result, he said nobody had said they wanted to conduct another election.

“That’s probably the big thing at this point in time - people are tired of it, they’re sick of it, they’re exhausted by it and the parties have spent all of their money into it,” he said.

“One thing I could say - it’s peculiar and I’m happy it’s the case - but the Labor party and the union movement threw so much money at New England outspending us three or four dollars to one and GetUp!,” he said.

“But if they had of put those resources into other seats, where they could have won, they could now be the government but they put that money into seats they were never going to win.”

Mr Joyce said a hung parliament “is what it is and you’ve got manage it”.

“But I don’t think anybody wants to go back into an election,” he said.

Mr Joyce said he remained hopeful the Nationals would hold onto the Queensland seats of Capricornia and Flynn after vote counting continued which are currently with Labor but regarded as being delicately balanced.

“Capricornia - we’ll hold by less than 100 votes - and Flynn we’ll hold by a few hundred votes,” he said.

“I base it on an assessment of the previous postals and taking into account the current trend, the current swing.

“If the postals turn up we’ll hold both seats but if they don’t then we’ve got problems.”

Mr Joyce said winning those two seats would assist the Coalition’s chances of governing without needing any crossbench support.

National Farmers’ Federation President Brent Finlay said the final number of elected MPs would also determine how many Nationals potentially sat in the federal cabinet which was based on a percentage of members elected, from the two Coalition parties.

Mr Finlay said the NFF was already “reaching out” to the independents to make contact and ensure they had the peak lobby group’s accelerate agriculture election policy.

“The farm sector like everyone is watching very closely what will eventuate; it’s potentially days or it could even be a week or two before we know who forms government,” he said.

“There’s going to be a lot of backwards and forwards in what’s already been a very interesting election campaign.

“Watching it on Saturday night, at one stage it seemed the Coalition would get over the line then it started to change about 9.30pm and Labor certainly closed the gap but now we still don’t know what the outcome will be.

“However, whichever side forms government we’ll be looking to get in the door as soon as possible and communicate our policies.

“An important part of forming a government and governing the nation will be how the different political parties can work with each other.”

Mr Finlay said the NFF was apolitical but whoever was able to form government needed to form a stable government.

“The last thing we need is an unstable government and a government where you don’t know where they’re going to land on legislation,” he said.

“That’s not good for business and farmers are business people.”

Mr Finlay said the best result on election night would have been a clear decision either way, to form a majority government.

He said a hung parliament created hard work around policy formation and challenges with passing legislation in the House of Representatives and Senate.

“The worst possible outcome is an absolute stalemate where there’s no clear legislation especially around economic legislation,” he said.

Mr Turnbull said Australians would have preferred a clearer outcome after the election and it would be a number of days before the AEC completed the vote count.

“I remain quietly confident that a majority Coalition Government will be returned at this election when the counting is completed,” he said.

Mr Turnbull said about one third of Australians voted in pre-polling or via a postal vote and the counting of those votes would determine the final result now in as many as 12 undecided seats.

He said there may also be recounts in other close contests and “I suspect that we will see seats moving from one side of the ledger to the other until the count is completed at the end of the week”.

“Our experience is that these postal votes and pre-poll votes indeed, traditionally favour Liberal and National Party candidates, especially when they are incumbents,” he said.

“So if that trend were to be manifest again here, that is likely to deliver majority government to the Coalition but time will tell - so we will have to await the outcome of the counting.”

Mr Turnbull said he’d spoken with many of the crossbenchers to say he remained confident of being able to form a majority government and in any circumstances, “we always seek to work constructively with all of the members of the parliament - as indeed we have sought to do in the past”.

“It is very important to recognise that this is the people's House,” he said.

“The people have chosen the members of the parliament and we will work with all of them to deliver the stability and the leadership that Australians expect.”

Mr Shorten said three years after the Liberals came to power in a landslide, “they have lost their mandate and Mr Turnbull’s economic program, such as it was, has been rejected by the people of Australia”.

“Whatever happens next week, Mr Turnbull will never be able to claim that the people of Australia have adopted his ideological agenda,” he said.

“At this election, Labor has shown we are a party for all Australians from every generation and in every part of our nation.

“In our cities and our regions, from the grand country towns to new and growing suburbs - battlers and small business people, our farmers and our teachers.”

The vote counting will also continue for the Senate however some preliminary results indicate the crossbench is likely be expanded from the eight members that held sway, in the previous parliament.

One Nation leader Pauline Hanson appears set to return to parliament as a Queensland Senator following a long absence along with potentially two more form her party.

High profile radio broadcaster Derryn Hinch appears to have a won a sport in Victoria and up to three NXT Senators from SA.

Tasmanian independent Senator Jacqui Lambie also appears to have been re-elected while Liberal Democratic Party Senator David Leyonhjelm is also a chance to return.

WA Palmer United Party Senator Dio Wang looks unlikely to be re-elected along with former PUP turned independent Queensland Senator Glenn Lazarus and Victorian independent John Madigan.

Family First senator Bob Day remains hopeful he may win the final SA Senate position based on preferences.

Overall, the Coalition looks to have lost four places in the Senate and the Greens one spot while Labor could improve its numbers by at least two.