One week on, Turnbull set for 'slimmest victory'
Malcolm Turnbull looks set to form Government almost a week after voters went to the polls.
This this morning after two more crossbenchers, Cathy McGowan and Andrew Wilkie, have given the coalition the 76 votes needed to govern, the ABC reported.
Seat count
Coalition - 73
Labor - 66
Other - 5
TO WIN - 76
Labor, on the other hand, is predicted to finish with 66 to 69 seats. Five others are expected to be held by others – independents, Greens, and other minor parties.
While independent Andrew Wilkie later claimed today he had done "no deal" with the coalition, election analyst Antony Green has said with some “certainty” that this would see the coalition returned to government.
However, the potential result gives Turnbull the “slimmest majority in the best case scenario”, Nine News reported this morning.
It comes after senior Cabinet Minister Christopher Pyne claimed victory Friday morning.
"We have won again," he told breakfast TV. "That's our sixth victory out of eight in the last 20 years."
Mr Turnbull was more cautious than his party counterpart, saying he was waiting still for the final vote counting to be completed. “We respect the votes that have been cast,” he said.
Official counting will continue as the seat of Hindmarsh remains still too close to speculate.
Mr Green’s announcement comes shortly after Labor leader Bill Shorten effectively conceded defeat yesterday.
At the time Mr Shorten said it was likely that the coalition would “scrape over the line”.
He did warn, however, that the government could suffer “no direction” with such a slim majority.
Mr Wilkie said he would only support a no-confidence motion in a coalition government or reject the government's money bills "in a case of proven misconduct".
He said he had faced pressure, including from former Greens leader Bob Brown, to do a deal with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull in order to achieve particular benefits for Tasmania.
News break – July 9
