SYDNEY, Aug 22, (AFP) -Australia's opposition Liberal/National coalition is “back in business” and ready to govern, its leader Tony Abbott told an ecstatic crowd Saturday as the nation faced a hung parliament.
“The Liberal and National parties are back in business, we stand ready to govern, and we stand ready to offer the Australian people stable, predictable and competent government,” he said after nailbiting elections.
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| Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard is kissed by her partner Tim Mathieson at the Labour party election headquarters in MelbourneREUTERS |
Australian Opposition Leader Tony Abbott kisses his wife Margaret at his election headquarters in Sydney. REUTERS |
The conservative leader told a wildly cheering crowd in Sydney that while no clear winner had emerged from the polls, the ruling Labour Party could not govern with a minority in parliament.
“We do not have a clear result from tonight,” he said as broadcaster ABC gave the opposition 72 seats in the 150-seat parliament to Labor's 70 -- both falling short of the 76 needed to rule in their own right.
“What I will say is the Labour party has definitely lost its majority,” he said, adding that Prime Minister Julia Gillard's party “will never be able to govern effectively in a minority”.
Abbott's coalition was kicked out of government unceremoniously in a November 2007 Labor landslide victory led by former prime minister Kevin Rudd and his deputy Gillard, who two months ago ousted Rudd in a party coup.
The exuberance of Abbott's speech in a Sydney hotel stood in stark contrast to Gillard's more businesslike address, in which she conceded she would have to seek to broker deals with four independent MP's to cling to power.
The spectre of Rudd has dogged Gillard, with Abbott saying his brutal ouster had caused voters to turn on the government, which is less than three years old, resulting in Australia's hung parliament in 70 years.
The result has “to some extent at least been a referendum on the political execution of a prime minister” by Labor's factional leaders and that the Australian people had expressed their anger over the party coup, he said.
But Abbott urged his clearly elated supporters to keep the exuberance in check until the final outcome of the election is decided.
“This is a night for pride in our achievements, for satisfaction at the good result that has been achieved, but above all else measured reflection of the magnitude of the task ahead,” he told cheering supporters in Sydney.
“There should be no premature triumphalism tonight, there should simply be an appreciation that this has been a great night for the Australian people.
”Abbott, dubbed the “Mad Monk” after training as a Catholic priest, was magnanimous about his opponent. The “last eight weeks could not have been easy for her, but she has certainly worked extremely hard”, he said. |
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