The Australian Senate on Friday approved legislation that enables the government to roll out a 36 billion Australian dollar ($35 billion) high-speed national broadband network.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard will lead Australia's first minority government in 67 years after two independent lawmakers threw their support behind her center-left Labor Party on Tuesday, ending two weeks of uncertainty left by national elections that ended on a knife-edge.
Australians woke up Wednesday from an 18-day political nightmare after two independent lawmakers threw their support behind Prime Minister Julia Gillard, giving her Labor Party the parliamentary votes necessary to form the country's first minority government since World War II.
Will conservative opposition leader Tony Abbott replace the Labor Party's Julia Gillard as Australia's prime minister? That question lingered Monday morning in Australia and could remain unanswered for days, after Saturday's federal elections produced the country's first hung Parliament in seven decades.
The leaders of Australia's two major political parties began negotiating power deals with independent lawmakers Sunday after the nation's closest election in decades failed to deliver a clear mandate to govern.
Environmentalists around the world will be watching Saturday's national election results in Australia, which they say could have a global impact on efforts to combat climate change.
Australia's government expanded its ambitious plan to bring broadband to much of the vast country, adding 300,000 homes and businesses to the coverage area Friday in hopes of winning votes in next month's federal election.
As Australia's first woman prime minister, Julia Gillard should immediately announce Australia's support for France's draft ban of the burqa ("Lower house approves burqa ban," Gepoloitics, Wednesday).
Australia's ruling Labor Party ousted Prime Minister Kevin Rudd on Thursday in a sudden, stunning revolt that also delivered the country its first female leader.
