In what has possibly been the tightest election in Australia’s history, the country seems headed for its first-ever hung parliament.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard, who ousted Kevin Rudd in a party room coup a mere 8 weeks ago because of popularity concerns, may go down in history as the politician who made Australia’s worst-ever political decision.

Her unpopular grab for power may have cost her government.

^{Will Tony Abbott become Australia’s next Prime Minister? (Picture: ABC Television)}

As I write, the Australian Labor Party has won 70 seats and the opposition Liberal/National Party coalition has 72 seats. The Greens have won 1 seat, and independents have 4 seats in the 150-seat parliament. The remaining seats remain uncertain.

It is possible that with Greens and independents’ support, the ALP may form a minority government. However, ALP support from the four independent MPs (Bob Katter (Qld), Tony Windsor (NSW), Robert Oakeshott (NSW) and Andrew Wilkie (Tas.) cannot be assured.

Depending on how the final numbers tally, and depending on which party the independents support, we may have a hung parliament. It is impossible for the Liberals to govern in their own right because they would also need the support of some independent MPs on the floor of parliament.

^{The predicted Australian Parliament. (Picture: ABC Television)}

Australia has had a minority government once before. In 1939, Robert Menzies’ United Australia Party formed a government with Country Party support. In that instance, the minority government was the product of changing allegiances in parliament, rather than an election.

If the final tally from the 2010 election delivers a hung parliament, the Governor-General will ask one of the party leaders to form a government, before testing their confidence on the floor of parliament. If that party cannot garner majority support, the other major party leader will be asked. If the numbers are still balanced, then the Governor-General will have no choice but to call another election and ask the people to decide again.

One must ask: Would a minority government work in Australia?

Sometimes minority governments work out well, sometimes they don’t. The Labor Party is running a minority government with the Greens in Tasmania, following their election of a hung parliament earlier this year. So far, that government has been a success (in a constitutional sense).

^{Live coverage of the election was broadcast on ABC1 and ABC News 24}

Personally speaking, I believe that a Labor minority government is the most likely outcome, with support from the Greens and some of the independents.

Given that the Greens are essentially an environmental-socialist party and the Liberals/Nationals represent the centre-Right, I don’t believe that a coalition between the two is sustainable. Since the Greens and Labor are both left-wing parties with various policy overlaps, a coalition between the two could work. Whether the ALP would give Greens MP’s any ministries is another matter, but that is the convention in such a situation.

Because of the tight results, it’s unlikely that the Australian Electoral Commission will be able to finalise the results for several days. In the interim, I expect that the independents will be receiving a lot of phone calls from Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott

Many have lamented the dullness of this campaign. Few would have expected such an ‘exciting’ outcome.

I have been arguing about the need to protect Melbourne’s heritage architecture in The Grapevine for years. In recent times, it has appeared that the State Government and particularly the Victorian Heritage Council are far more interested in “job creation” than “heritage protection”. Three recent examples highlight the immediate problem at hand: the demolition of Lonsdale House, the gutting of Hamer Hall and the proposed 40% demolition of the Windsor Hotel.

Yet these are the tip of the ‘iceberg’ of destruction that is likely to hit our city in the coming year.

Thankfully, I am not the only person concerned about taking some action to defend Melbourne’s built heritage.

In recent times, a new advocacy group called Melbourne Heritage Action has been formed, and I am proud to say that I am a founding member. Many of the people involved with Melbourne Heritage Action were previously associated with the Save Lonsdale House movement (I am not one of them). Whilst the group is still in it’s infancy, I am impressed with the breadth of expertise we have pooled, as well as the broad community support. Even the National Trust has come on board to lend a hand, which is fantastic! Community interest is growing, too.

^{The Windsor Hotel}

Melbourne Heritage Action seeks to promote an awareness of Melbourne’s built heritage, using a range of social media,  public submissions, public campaigns and demonstrations, where need-be. Through these mechanisms it is hoped that we will raise community awareness, which will entice the State Government (and other responsible agencies) to place a greater value on heritage protection.

At present there is a lot of work to do.

The beautiful Equity Trustees building stands to be gutted and altered, the Spencer Street Power Station is about to be skewered by the legs of a skyscraper which will stand over it, and the Scots Church Hall and Melbourne’s first multi-storey car park are to be levelled, but only if the developers get their way.

^{Melbourne Heritage Action founding members (L-R): Helene Athanasiadis, Katrina Grant, Rupert Mann (President), Adam Dimech and Jim Barrett. (Image: The Age)}

In an election year that has also been witness to the Planning Minister’s questionable handling of the Windsor Hotel saga, there is considerable public interest in heritage and planning matters. Today, the Sunday Age has published an online article about Melbourne Heritage Action, which I hope will help garner further interest from the public.

If you’d like to help defend Melbourne’s significant buildings, and raise community awareness about planning and heritage matters in Melbourne, go to the Melbourne Heritage Action website at http://www.melbourneheritage.org.au/.

If you think you can make a contribution or want to become more deeply involved, please send an email.

We’d love to hear from you!

As of Tuesday 3 August 2010, my websites will no longer support Internet Explorer 6 compatibility. That includes The Grapevine.

If you’re viewing this web page through the Internet Explorer 6 (IE6) browser, you will see an advisory at the top asking you to update.  You are strongly urged to do so.

IE6 was released in 2001 and has since been superseded by two newer versions. The latest version is Internet Explorer 8, which you can download for free here.

IE6 has several  key problems:

1. IE6 doesn’t support many common web standards, such as key aspects of CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) which are integral to most modern websites (including this one).

2. IE6 is extremely susceptible to virus attacks, because of its poor security suite.

3. Microsoft is phasing out support for IE6.

Designing websites that render in all browsers is challenging enough as it is. Designing a website for a decade-old browser is almost impossible!  In recent times Google, Facebook and YouTube have all stopped supporting IE6, and as of 3 August 2010, so have I. According to my web stats, 8% of readers are using IE6 or IE5.

Internet Explorer is free, and will takes less than 5 minutes to update. Of course there are many other great free browsers, such as Firefox, Safari and Opera that you can use as an alternative.

If you’re behind a corporate firewall, please ask your employer to allow you to upgrade.