‘The definition of an Independent Member of Parliament, viz., one that could
not be depended upon.’ – Former British prime minister, the Earl of Derby to Queen Victoria.
In the August 21 federal election down under, the Labor government of Prime Minister Julia Gillard copped a stunning rebuke from the Australian people. Consider this: Tony Abbott’s centre-right Liberal-National Coalition won nearly half a million more votes than the Australian Labor Party. It secured more seats than the ALP (73 to 72 in the 150-seat House of Representatives). And the Labor administration became the first first-term government since 1931 to lose a parliamentary majority. So how does Labor claim a mandate to govern?
The two rural Independents, on whose support Julia Gillard now depends, represent electorates that are overwhelmingly conservative. All the available evidence — the senate vote on August 21 and the subsequent opinion polls in the two electorates – indicates that the electors of these Independent seats strongly favour the Coalition over Labor.
And yet, the suddenly famous duo of the 60-year-old Tony Windsor and the 40-year-old Rob Oakeshott sided with this unpopular Labor government whose prime minister, the Lady Macbeth of Australian politics, lacks any real legitimacy.
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