Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull yesterday declared victory for the ruling Conservative Party after opposition Labor conceded defeat, but faces a tough time ahead after the narrow mandate in the closely fought election.
The declaration ended eight days of uncertainty about the new government’s identity. A tight race between the two major parties left neither of them with the 76 or more seats required for a parliamentary majority following polls on July 2, with vote counting still ongoing.
“We’ve won the election, that’s what we’ve done,” Turnbull told reporters in Sydney, adding that he received a call from Labor leader Bill Shorten congratulating him on his re-election as prime minister.
However, he immediately faced questions about whether he would be able to govern successfully, with Labor increasing its lower house seats and a higher number of minor party and independent senators to contend with in the upper house.
Turnbull’s ruling Liberal/National coalition was expected to secure 74 seats, and potentially two more in the 150-seat House of Representatives, according to national broadcaster ABC’s projections.
However, the Australian leader has won the support of three independent members of parliament on budget matters and on votes of no confidence, paving the way for him to form a minority government if necessary.
Labor has won 66 and with five independents elected, the opposition does not have sufficient seats to govern in Canberra, according to the projections.
The need for Turnbull to court the support of those outside his party saw him stress that he valued every parliamentarian’s contribution, even though he had warned Australians not to vote for minor parties and independents during the election campaign.
“It is vital that this parliament works,” Turnbull said, adding that Australia faced numerous challenges including a rocky transition away from dependence on mining-driven growth.
“Every member of the house and the senate deserves respect, because they have been elected by the Australian people,” he said.
Shorten earlier yesterday pledged in his concession speech that his party wanted to work well with the government, amid concerns the close result and higher number of lawmakers not from the two major parties could cause gridlock.
Even so, Turnbull faces an uphill task to get the senate to pass two bills about restoring a construction union watchdog. He had used the senate’s blocking of the bills to trigger a double-dissolution election, but could now face an even more hostile upper house.
There are also question marks over whether his multibillion-dollar plan to cut corporate tax announced in the May budget would get support from the smaller parties and independents, who were elected on more populist agendas.
The two seats the coalition hopes to pick up are among five in the balance, with the electoral commission still completing the painstaking task of counting postal votes and others cast outside people’s normal electorates.
Both Turnbull and Shorten said they supported an inquiry into electronic voting, amid the protracted counting process.
“I have been an advocate of electronic voting for a long time ... yes, this is something we must look at,” Turnbull said.
Turnbull lost the government’s comfortable majority in the House of Representatives in the election on Saturday last week after his campaign on “jobs and growth” and “innovation” failed to resonate equally across the continent.
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)
EYE ON STRAIT: The US spending bill ‘doubles security cooperation funding for Taiwan,’ while also seeking to counter the influence of China US President Joe Biden on Saturday signed into law a US$1.2 trillion spending package that includes US$300 million in foreign military financing to Taiwan, as well as funding for Taipei-Washington cooperative projects. The US Congress early on Saturday overwhelmingly passed the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act 2024 to avoid a partial shutdown and fund the government through September for a fiscal year that began six months ago. Under the package, the Defense Appropriations Act would provide a US$27 billion increase from the previous fiscal year to fund “critical national defense efforts, including countering the PRC [People’s Republic of China],” according to a summary