With polls showing we may be on track for another minority government, suddenly we seem surrounded by cries of “not another hung parliament”.
And segments of the media and business are again raising exaggerated fears about the “risk and uncertainty” or “instability and short-termism” that will accompany such an outcome.
But the fact is that apart from a brief period between 2004 and 2007 (under prime minister John Howard), Australia has had minority government since 1977, at least in the Senate.
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