Hung Parliament ‘Worst Possible Outcome’ for Australia’s Impending Federal Election: Shadow Minister

Voters line up at a polling booth in Brisbane, Australia, on May 21, 2022. Dan Peled/Getty Images

Shadow Finance Minister Jane Hume has revealed the Coalition is going into the election to win it and sees a hung parliament as the “worst possible outcome.”

This coms after recent YouGov poll showed the Coalition holding a 51-49 two-party preferred lead over the Labor Party with a hung parliament the most likely scenario. However, the data showed the Coalition is more likely to win a majority than the Labor Party.

A hung parliament in Australia occurs when no political party wins a majority of seats in the House of Representatives. This results in negotiations between parties to form a minority government or a coalition.

Hume said the “teal” independents have a strong voting record with Labor and the Greens when asked if the Coalition would work with them.

“On average, the Teals have voted with the Greens around 78 percent of the time. Around with labor, around 75 percent of the time, and around with the Coalition, around 18 percent of the time,” she said on ABC News Breakfast.

Hume avoided closing the door to working with minor parties but highlighted it was really important to “look at what people do rather than what people say.”

“We’re planning on going to this election to win the election, because Australians deserve better than what they’ve had for the last three years,” she said.

“We think that the worst possible outcome would be a hung parliament, and of course, a vote for anybody other than the Liberal Party, other than the National party, other than a Coalition member, is a vote for [prime minister] Anthony Albanese, and potentially a hung parliament that would cause chaos.”

Teal Independent Allegra Spender, who represents Sydney’s wealthy eastern suburbs in the seat of Wentworth, left room for the possibility of working with both a Coalition and Labor government in an interview on Feb. 17.

Wentworth traditionally voted Liberal before Spender’s victory, but securing the seat in the next election will need more than just the usual Liberal base, tapping into a wider range of voters to win.

“I am very open to working with a Coalition government and I’m open to working with the Labor government, but that depends on what they are actually going to put on the table. I believe that this is where my view on the world and the Coalition’s view on the world, there are a lot of parallels. There’s a lot of sympathy,” she said on the ABC.

Other high profile teals in the parliament include Zali Steggall, Monique Ryan, Zoe Daniel, Kate Chaney, and Sophie Scamps.

Winning back some of the seats lost to the teals in the 2022 election is seen as crucial to the Coalition’s election chances. However, the Coalition is also polling well in outer suburbs electorates including the Hunter.

This comes after Opposition leader Peter Dutton said on Feb. 17 that the Greens-Teals would “only ever support a Labor government.

“So I think we need to be honest about the fact that if you vote for Monique Ryan, if you vote for Zoe Daniel, if you vote for Kate Chaney, you’re voting for Anthony Albanese and a minority government with the Greens,” he said.

However, Dutton did suggest that Spender and Independent MPs Dai Le and Bob Katter could help the Coalition form government if they fall short by a couple of seats.

Election Date Still Up in the Air

An Australian election is expected to be called this year, but so far the prime minister has been tight lipped on the election date.

For both the House of Representatives and Senate to be held on the same day, an election would be required by May 17, due to half of the Senators concluding their terms mid-year.

When asked when the election would be held on Feb. 14, Albanese said, “Keep your eye on the white car, and sometime between now and, actually we could have a half Senate election and have an election on Sept. 27. Any time before then. If there’s a Senate and House of Reps election, it has to be before May 17.”

Meanwhile, Housing Minister Clare O'Neil referred to global factors impacting the economy when asked about polling numbers on the Today Show on Feb. 17. She pointed to the economies in the U.S., Canada and the UK, which she said had undergone “real difficulties” similar to Australia.

“It’s been a difficult period. No one’s going to deny that Australians have been under huge pressures. But all of those things that we’ve done to assist people with cost-of-living issues, remember that Peter Dutton came out and opposed those, so people would be feeling worse today if Peter Dutton had been the prime minister,” she said.