Australia's Hung Parliament

At the eleventh hour, Tony Abbott has made a last-ditch plea to the remaining three Independents to vote for the Opposition. As he sees his future as our next Prime Minister slowly slipping away, he implores them not to go with Labor. All the Independents have been basking in the limelight and enjoying every minute of it, never before have they had such an opportunity to help their electorates. It's been rather embarrassing to see our two most senior politicians falling over themselves offering deals that will put them into office.

It was a shock when fourth Independent MP Andrew Wilkie decided to go with Labor last week. Tony Abbott offered him a billion dollars to rebuild the Royal Hobart Hospital so why did he go with Labor who offered him much less? Wilkie said he thought Abbott's offer was "reckless".

In an open letter Abbott promised all three that his government would be the most "country-oriented" since World War II. He also warned that a Labor/Green alliance spells doom for country Australia and not to forget the Greens policy on the Afghanistan War - they would pull our troops out which could threaten our American alliance.

Bob Katter is good mates with Kevin Rudd, both Queenslanders, who go back a long way. He visited his Canberra flat twice last week. He praised Labor for their help over the past 3 years and critisized the Liberals for their general lack of support to rural Australia over many years.

But there have been some positive outcomes. Tasmanian Independent Andrew Wilkie, backed up by South Australian Nick Xenophon, have forced both parties to do something about gambling. A recent report revealed that 600,000 Australians play the poker machines every week and 95,000 of these are problem gamblers. If there hadn't been a hung parliament, I doubt if this would ever have happened. The states will scream bloody murder but Julia Gillard has promised to over-ride them if necessary.

Rob Oakeshott is responsible for sweeping reforms, one being question time. New time limits will be put on answers and ministers won't be able to avoid answering a question. (Yes, that's what I thought too - totally impossible). Parliament will have to sit for an extra four weeks a year. A Parliamentary Integrity Commissioner will be appointed to act as watchdog to MPs' ethics and spending of their entitlements. MPs' declarations of their interests, including real estate and share holdings, will be published on line. All good outcomes.

So even though we are all fed up with waiting to find out who wins, there have been positive lessons learned and I think this pause in political proceedings has been generally good for the country.