Australia's Inconclusive Election Mirrors UK Hung Parliament Result

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-11050525

Australia's inconclusive General Election result means that, for the first time in decades, the country is heading for rule by a hung parliament.

And with this year's UK election still fresh in everyone's mind, the parallels are striking.

Like in the UK, the incumbents in Australia are a Labor Government, although they have not been in power for as long as the 13 years that Labour were here. 

And although Australia has not suffered from the world recession like the UK has, like David Cameron's Party, Opposition leader Tony Abbott, has the same conservative ideas on bringing down Australia's Budget deficit; namely huge cuts in public spending.  He is also making similar noises about reducing the size of Government.

As is the case in the UK, the Australian people will no doubt endure a sustained period of austerity should Mr Abbott manage to form a Government. Everything rests on whether Julia Gillard's negotiations with the Greens and the four conservative-leaning independent MPs are a success.   

The British people are currently on tenterhooks waiting for the Autumn spending round and the announcement on which departments will be worst hit by the imminent cuts. 

If Mr Abbott does indeed become the next Prime Mininster of Australia, then the people there too will go through the same anxieties that we in Britain are currently experiencing. 

We wait and see if the Labor Party can hold on to power Down Under and hope that, unlike us, Australians are not made to suffer the draconian policies of an unelected right-wing coalition.