The Australian Hung Parliament

The Australian Monarchist League advises as follows: WHAT DOES A HUNG PARLIAMENT MEAN CONSTITUTIONALLY? The potential of a hung parliament in Australia, following yesterday's election, has raised questions about the constitutional situation. The final decision of how many seats each party has will probably not be known for some days but, once all results are in, if it is found that no one party has a clear majority, negotiations will commence with the Green and independent members to enlist their support. The Governor-General is vested with constitutional powers to commission a person to form a government but, by convention, these are never used in an arbitrary sense. The duty of the Governor-General is to commission the leader of the party which can prove it has sufficient support in the lower house of the parliament to survive a vote of no confidence. Until then, the incumbent government continues in caretaker mode. If, in the future, those independents who had pledged support, decide to withdraw and support the other party, then the Governor-General will, upon being certain that the other party would survive a vote in the House of Representatives, commission the leader of that party to form a government. If the situation is likely to continue to be unstable, then the Governor-General will seek a consensus on holding an election. The number of electoral votes gained by any one party is, in a constitutional sense, immaterial - although it may influence the non-aligned members. It is all about votes of elected members in the House of Representatives. The whole process is based on providing the country with the most stable government possible. With regards Philip Benwell National Chairman