‘Do not do deals’: Veteran MP warns against pacts with Albanese, Dutton

The key crossbencher who helped decide government in the hung federal parliament of 2010 has warned against doing deals with the major parties after a tight election, saying independent MPs will gain better results by refusing to sign pacts.

Andrew Wilkie, the Tasmanian independent who signed an agreement to confirm Julia Gillard as prime minister, said crossbench MPs would be hamstrung if they agreed to formal deals in a possible hung parliament after the next election.

Andrew Wilkie with teal independent Zoe Daniel.Credit: James Brickwood

The comments send a strong message to teal independents to avoid pledging support for either major party when opinion polls suggest Prime Minister Anthony Albanese could lose support at the coming election, forcing him to hold power with crossbench backing.

“I learned that if you have a deal, you’re locked in, and you are kind of taken for granted,” Wilkie said. “Whereas, if you don’t have a deal you can’t be taken for granted.”

Wilkie said he would go to the coming election telling voters in his seat of Clark that he would not do a deal with either major party if there was a hung parliament, citing the lesson of his broken agreement with Gillard.

In exclusive polling done for this masthead in October, 30 per cent of voters said they would prefer a minority government after the next election, 36 per cent wanted a clear majority and the remainder were unsure. The major-party race is extremely tight: polling this month showed the Coalition holding a slim lead over Labor in two-party terms, by 51 to 49 per cent, when preferences are allocated in the same way people voted at the last election.

Wilkie talks with then-prime minister Julia Gillard in parliament.Credit: Andrew Meares

While Wilkie said he would not give public advice to the teal independents, he said he had spoken to his crossbench colleagues about the lessons from the past and thought they should not have to back one party or another before the election.

Gillard arranged written agreements with the Greens and three independents – Wilkie, Rob Oakeshott and Tony Windsor – before seeking approval from then-governor-general Quentin Bryce to form government.

But Wilkie said the experience from 2010 showed that power could be determined without formal deals because crossbench MPs could vote on a no-confidence motion in the House of Representatives to determine if a party and its leader could govern.

“I think it’s democracy at its purest – that things are decided on the floor of the parliament,” he said.

“If there is no majority, then someone brings on a no-confidence motion and let’s find out where the numbers lie.”

The opposition leader in the last hung parliament, Tony Abbott, never moved a no-confidence motion against Gillard.

Wilkie acknowledged that crossbench MPs in electorates once held by the Liberals – the teals and some other independents – would be in a difficult position if forced to choose between Albanese and Opposition Leader Peter Dutton.

“It’s easy for the Greens because they’re not going to bring down an Albanese government, but it’s going to be a really difficult decision for the teals, who are representing more conservative electorates, but with a passion for things like climate change,” he said.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Opposition Leader Peter Dutton during the launch of the annual Kmart Wishing Tree Appeal event at Parliament House in November.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

While any MP could choose to abstain on a no-confidence motion, Wilkie said this would be the wrong approach.

“I don’t even hesitate to say that no crossbencher has the option of abstaining on a motion of confidence in the government, particularly when it’s just after an election in a power-sharing parliament,” he said.

The teal MPs contesting the coming election – Allegra Spender, Monique Ryan, Sophie Scamps, Zali Steggall and Zoe Daniel – have not indicated their views on whom they would support in a hung parliament.

Spender said in November that her calls for tax reform would be a factor in her decision, while Daniel told voters before the previous election that she would “see what is on the table” from both major parties in a hung parliament. Ryan has said she would support the side that aligned with the “values and interests” of her community in the seat of Kooyong.

Wilkie said there was a “legitimate question” for independents about their likely support, but those who asked it should expect 18 different answers from the 18 members of the crossbench.

“We all approach this from different starting points, with different considerations, and the teals are obviously not a party, and you should expect quite different answers from each of them,” he said.

“I can only speak for myself: I learned from 2010 to 2013 not to do formal deals in the future.

“Like my colleagues, I understand it’s in the public interest to have an effective and stable democracy. Whatever the election throws up, it’s our duty to make it work.”

Wilkie signed an agreement with Gillard in September 2010 to give Labor his support on no-confidence votes and budget supply bills in return for a government promise to toughen the laws on poker machines by introducing “pre-commitment” cards with the states to limit the amounts gamblers could lose.

Labor came under intense pressure from gambling venues, and Gillard chose not to go ahead with the deal in January 2012, prompting Wilkie to become a “free agent” in the lower house.

Wilkie is the sole remaining independent MP who sided with Labor in that hung parliament. Another member from that time, Queensland independent Bob Katter, sided with the Coalition. Some of the teal independents and others have spoken to Wilkie about the lessons from that era.

“I think my written agreement with Julia Gillard went to something like eight pages, and I learned that having such a detailed agreement, so long as I was prepared to honour that agreement, hamstrung me,” Wilkie said.

“When I withdrew, or when Julia Gillard basically tore it up in my face, when she said she would not honour the poker machine reform deal, I found that ultimately I had much more freedom of manoeuvre.

“And the benefits for my community were markedly improved.”

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