Aussie trio hold power balance
Source: Agencies |
August 28, 2010, Saturday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
FORGET the prime minister. Real political power in Australia right now is being wielded by a maverick in a cowboy hat and his two colleagues. A week after national elections ended on a knife edge, the unlikely trio of lawmakers have emerged as kingmakers.
Pugnacious Bob Katter is rarely seen without his broad-brimmed white felt hat -- a reminder that while he strides the corridors of Parliament House in the national capital Canberra in a suit and tie, he's from untamed cattle and mining country in the remote northeast Outback.
Before August 21 elections, Katter and fellow rural lawmakers Tony Windsor and Rob Oakeshott were the only independents in the 150-seat House of Representatives. They struggled to have their voices heard in a parliament where lawmakers rarely vote against party lines -- and are never forgiven when they do.
But political leaders have listened to them intently since the elections failed to deliver any party a victory for the first time in 70 years. Their support will determine whether the center-left Labor Party, which ruled for the past three years, or a conservative Liberal Party-led coalition forms a minority government. The unlikely alternative is Australians returning to the polls.
The independents demonstrated their leverage yesterday when Prime Minister Julia Gillard and opposition leader Tony Abbott agreed to reveal confidential financial details to demonstrate which party had the best economic blueprint, and expose where they might have misled voters.
Katter's fans describe him as passionate while his critics say he's mad. All agree he is colorful and brings a different set of priorities to the national political agenda.
He has raised the concerns of constituents in his northern Queensland state that near-neighbor Indonesia "might pose an invasion threat." War with Indonesia seems unlikely to most Australians.
Pugnacious Bob Katter is rarely seen without his broad-brimmed white felt hat -- a reminder that while he strides the corridors of Parliament House in the national capital Canberra in a suit and tie, he's from untamed cattle and mining country in the remote northeast Outback.
Before August 21 elections, Katter and fellow rural lawmakers Tony Windsor and Rob Oakeshott were the only independents in the 150-seat House of Representatives. They struggled to have their voices heard in a parliament where lawmakers rarely vote against party lines -- and are never forgiven when they do.
But political leaders have listened to them intently since the elections failed to deliver any party a victory for the first time in 70 years. Their support will determine whether the center-left Labor Party, which ruled for the past three years, or a conservative Liberal Party-led coalition forms a minority government. The unlikely alternative is Australians returning to the polls.
The independents demonstrated their leverage yesterday when Prime Minister Julia Gillard and opposition leader Tony Abbott agreed to reveal confidential financial details to demonstrate which party had the best economic blueprint, and expose where they might have misled voters.
Katter's fans describe him as passionate while his critics say he's mad. All agree he is colorful and brings a different set of priorities to the national political agenda.
He has raised the concerns of constituents in his northern Queensland state that near-neighbor Indonesia "might pose an invasion threat." War with Indonesia seems unlikely to most Australians.
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