Two independent Members of Parliament today (Tuesday August 7) gave their backing to Australia’s prime minister Julia Gillard, giving her a second term in office.
While the Labor victory may give Gillard hope of introducing a carbon dioxide emissions trading scheme after 2013, she will have to walk a political tightrope to do so.
Gillard secured the necessary parliamentary support to be re-elected after Tony Windsor, MP for New England, and Rob Oakeshott, MP for Lynne, New South Wales, said they would support her. The third remaining independent, Bob Katter, MP for Kennedy, Queensland, had earlier in the day said he would support the opposition led by Tony Abbott.
Australia has been in a 17 day electoral deadlock since August 21, when the general election produced a hung parliament. The...