While it may not be directly related to Engineering, Architecture or Planning, or in fact recruitment, it is a question that everyone has asked in the last week.
As such, we thought we’d blog about it…
What is a hung Parliament?
A hung Parliament results when no party has more than half the MPs in the House of Representatives, which means no party can pass laws without gaining support from other parties or independent members of the House.
That support could come in the form of a formal coalition, or the governing party may have to negotiate with the other parties to get laws passed.
How did we get here?
There are 150 members of the House of Representatives, so to have an outright majority one of the parties needs to hold 76 seats. Neither Labor nor the Coalition looks likely to reach that point.
Instead, they’ll have to negotiate with the four sitting independents who have been re-elected.
What happens now?
Negotiation. Both Labor and the Coalition will attempt to convince the independents and Green to provide them with the support needed to get the required 76 votes on the floor of Parliament.
Who is running the country while this happens?
Julia Gillard remains the caretaker prime minister and her Government remains in the caretaker role it has played since the election was called.
This will remain the case until one side of politics can convince Governor-General Quentin Bryce it has the numbers to form a government.
What is the Governor-General’s role?
Constitutional experts say there’s nothing explicit about hung Parliaments in Australia’s Constitution. Instead, these situations are resolved via a set of unwritten rules originating in the United Kingdom. Despite being unwritten, these conventions are considered clear and well-established.
Under these conventions, the governor-general acts on the advice of the caretaker prime minister.
If Ms Gillard is able to win enough support from the independents and Mr Bandt, she would advise Ms Bryce that she intended to form a government. Ms Bryce would then swear in Ms Gillard and her ministers, and Labor would test its support on the floor of Parliament via a no-confidence motion brought by the Opposition.
The fresh government would need the support of 76 members to survive the vote.
If, on the other hand, it becomes clear that the Coalition has won enough support to form a government, the usual course of events would be for Ms Gillard to resign and advise Ms Bryce to send for Liberal leader Tony Abbott.
Is this situation unprecedented?
This is the first hung Parliament at a Commonwealth level in Australia since 1940.
On that occasion, Robert Menzies was able to form and lead a coalition government, but subsequently lost support and was succeeded by Arthur Fadden in mid-1941. Later that year, two independents switched their support to Labor and John Curtin became prime minister.
However, Australia has had quite a bit of experience with hung parliaments and minority governments at the state level.
Why should a handful of independents get to decide who forms our government?
Under Australia’s system of democracy, governments are formed based on the make-up of Parliament. Simply put, the likely make-up of our next Parliament means a government can only be formed with the support of the independents and one Green MP.
Is there a chance we’ll have another election?
Normally parliament should be given a reasonable time to run and to sort out a government.
However, if neither Labor nor the Coalition is able to marshall a parliamentary majority and survive a vote of no confidence, Ms Bryce may be left with no other option.
How long can this drag on?
Technically, the deadline for ending the impasse is whenever Parliament sits.
The Constitution says Parliament must sit within 30 days of the return of the election writs. The last possible date for the return of the writs is October 27, meaning Parliament would have to sit in November.
In reality, there will be considerable pressure to end the deadlock much sooner than that. However, any solution seems unlikely before final counting wraps up during the week starting August 29.
Where does the Senate come into this?
The make-up of the House of Representatives determines who is able to form government. The Greens will hold the balance of power in the new Senate. So whoever ends up forming a minority government faces the prospect of negotiating with their partners in the Lower House and the Greens in the Upper House to get laws passed.
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