Independents to end Australia's election deadlock
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A decision on which of the two major parties will be able to form a minority Australian federal government is likely to be announced at a press conference scheduled for 2 p.m. Tuesday (AEST), local media said.
The three country independent Members of Parliament (MPs) - Tony Windsor, Bob Katter and Rob Oakeshott - who will make the decision have started arriving at Parliament House in Canberra for consideration of "final documents" from both Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Opposition Leader Tony Abbott.
"Then the three of us will get together and talk it through," Windsor told Australian Associated Press on Tuesday, adding the trio was hoping they could make public their decision early on Tuesday afternoon.
Labor needs only the support of two of the three independents to form a minority government, while the coalition needs all three.
Nationals Senate leader Barnaby Joyce is not confident about the coalition's chances of winning over the independents.
"You get a sense that the momentum is slipping away from us," Senator Joyce told ABC Radio on Tuesday morning.
But his opposition frontbench colleague Andrew Robb is still hopeful the independents will back the coalition, describing private negotiations as genial and constructive.
"They have given us the impression they are still weighing up issues on both sides," Senator Robb said.
Meanwhile, Windsor said stability of government remains the most important issue for him.
"Can we put something in place that will last and work for a period of time," he said.
"What we all want to avoid, and I think the community as well wants to avoid, is a 75-all draw which would mean another election. "
