PRIME Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce have fronted the media today as vote counting restarts to determine the final result of the weekend’s federal election.
The Coalition leaders both maintained hopes of winning enough seats for a majority in the House of Representatives to form government, despite the final result being potentially unclear for several days or weeks.
But they both acknowledged the Australian people had spoken by electing members to parliament from outside of the major political parties, as a clear democratic statement of disillusionment with mainstream politics and government.
With a hung parliament a realistic outcome, Mr Turnbull said he and Mr Joyce had established rapports and common ground with independents like SA Senator Nick Xenophon, Queensland rural MP Bob Katter and Victorian rural MP Cathy McGowan – but wasn’t aligned to the Greens.
Mr Turnbull admitted there had already been discussions with the crossbench MPs but the outcome of the House of Representatives' election was “the first thing to consider”.
“In terms of those Independents, we know them well,” he said.
“We have a lot in common particularly with Cathy McGowan and Bob Katter - a lot of common interests.
“We know Nick Xenophon very well and we’ve had a lot of dealings with him over the years.
“Obviously the Greens, you know, their side of politics is quite a wide Gulf from ours and (Tasmanian independent MP) Andrew Wilkie is determined to remain above the fray.
“But anyway we look forward to having good discussions with all of them - but they build upon a long standing relationship of respect and in a number of cases, very common interests.”
Mr Joyce said “You can be in different football teams and still be mates with people on the other team”.
He said he’d been friends with Senator Xenophon since he started in Canberra and had also known Mr Katter “for years”.
“I don't hold for one second that that gives you any sway or favour; it's just a fact of how human beings get along,” he said.
Mr Joyce said the independents would also be conducting their own deliberations “in what they believe is the best outcome for our nation”.
“It would be absurd to say that in a time like this that you are not going to be discussing issues of the nation with people who have a responsibility, or possible responsibility for where the nation may go,” he said.
“But I absolutely respect that they will make a decision that they think is the best one for where Australia goes and you know, the weight would be bearing on their shoulders
“I don't know whether to be frank at this point in time whether there will be a so-called balance of power, hung Parliament arrangement.”
Mr Turnbull said it was yet to be revealed exactly how many members of the Nick Xenophon Team would ultimately be elected but accepted the fledgling minor party had polled very strongly in South Australia.
“We respect whoever is elected to the Senate or the House of Representatives from wherever they were elected - we respect the people's choice,” he said.
“We don't know the final composition of the Parliament - but Barnaby and I absolutely agree that whoever is elected they are there because the people voted for them and we respect the people's choice.
“Because of the change in the Senate voting rules, anyone who is elected to the Senate will have had a large number of people actually choose to vote for them as opposed to being the product of a group voting ticket and the so-called preference whispering arrangements.
“The reason that Pauline Hanson is elected to the Senate is because a large number of Queenslanders voted for her.”
Mr Turnbull said “I want to make it quite clear that as Prime Minister and leader of the Liberal Party, I take full responsibility for our campaign”.
“The Australian people have voted and we respect the result,” he said.
Mr Turnbull said the Coalition suffered a swing against them, “and we recognise that” but also noted Labor had also recorded its second lowest primary vote in history.
“There is no doubt that there is a level of disillusionment with politics, with government, and with the major parties - our own included,” he said.
“We note that - we respect it.
“Now, we need to listen very carefully to the concerns of the Australian people expressed through this election.
“There are lessons to be learned from this election.”
Mr Turnbull said the campaign was a team effort where the Coalition fought hard and presented a “powerful case” but weren’t as successful as he would have wished for and he as leader took full responsibility for that disappointing result.
“Leaders don't go around blaming people and the Australian people have voted,” he said.
“Wallowing in blame and recriminations, that's the people who want to look backwards - Barnaby and I look forwards - leaders lead.”
Mr Joyce thanked New England voters for “the incredible honour that they have bestowed on me by allowing me to serve them for another three years”.
He also acknowledged people in regional Australia who backed the Nationals “so strongly during this election”.
“Myself and the Prime Minister are here to start the process of serving them and making sure that the future for them is as good as we can possibly make it,” he said.
“To the Australian people - they have had their say and we absolutely respect the decision of the ballot box.”
Mr Joyce said he was confident “but not cocky” that the Coalition would become the government, which would be formed in the next few days or weeks.
The Nationals leader said his party had a vision to build dams and the inland rail and implement a Rural Investment Corporation that was promised during the campaign.
“We are the party and we are the Coalition that has given you record cattle prices, record meat sheep prices, record pork prices, extremely strong sugar prices, the largest turnaround in rural commodities, so that the second biggest export of our nation is rural exports,” he said.
“Why is that important? Because it improves the standard of living of people in regional areas.
“To be here with the Prime Minister today is a clear statement to the Australian people that we accept the result of the ballot box and we acknowledge that there is work to do.”
Mr Turnbull said this year’s election was the largest in terms of voter numbers, in Australia's history, with one million voters added to the electoral roll since the last election.
He said nine million Australians voted in polling places on Saturday but there were more than one million voters who used declaration votes and 1.5 million postal votes.
Around one million postal votes have been so far returned which could be received by the Australian Electoral Commission until July 15.
Mr Turnbull said that meant up to three million votes are to be added to the count over the next few days and that process was under way and “an exhaustive one”.
He also attacked Labor’s Medicare scare campaign saying while the Coalition was committed to the health system they allowed “some fertile ground in which that grotesque lie could be sewn” in the campaign.
“There is no doubt about that - it was a grotesque lie (and) framed it as such,” he said.
“Nonetheless, it was very effective, very cynical, very dishonest, but very effective.
“But for us we have to recognise that a material number of Australians were sufficiently concerned about our commitment to Medicare that they changed their vote and that is something we need to address.”