Australian Minister for Industry, Christopher Pyne during House of Representatives Question Time at Parliament House in Canberra, Thursday, May 5, 2016.
VICTORY is ours, according to Liberal frontbencher Christopher Pyne who has told morning television the Coalition is an “election-winning machine”.
As of Friday morning, the government held 73 seats to Labor’s 66.
Either side requires 76 to be able to form government.
When he appeared on Nine’s Today Show, Mr Pyne said the Coalition had won, after being told the government had not won a “resounding” victory, if indeed it took power.
“Well Ben, we’ve won the election. We’ve got 74 seats in the bank, and very likely to win Herbert, Capricornia and Flynn, we’re even an outside chance still in Hindmarsh and Cowan, so we will form a majority government.”
“We’re also making arrangements with some of the cross-benchers, for supply and confidence, so we will have a solid government, not unlike the victory of Bob Hawke in 1990, when of course he defeated Andrew Peacock.
“So, we’ve won again. That’s our sixth victory out of eight, in the last 20 years, you’d have to say we are an election-winning machine, in the Liberal Party.”
The Opposition is not yet prepared to admit defeat.
Labor’s Anthony Albanese appeared on the same show, saying Mr Pyne was pushing “spin” on Australia.
“Notwithstanding Christopher’s quite amazing spin there, the election campaign was a disaster for Malcolm Turnbull and the Coalition,” he said.
“Here we are, almost a week later, we still don’t know if they will be in a position to form a majority government or not.”
Mr Albanese again emphasised that Opposition Leader Bill Shorten would remain in the job, whatever the final verdict.
The ABC’s top election guru Antony Green has said he expected to be able to call the election today.
source: sunshinecoastdaily.com.au
STUDIO 3 NEWCASTLE AUSTRALIA 