Australia election: PM Malcolm Turnbull claims victory

“It is vital that this parliament works”.

Before the election the Greens held 10 Senate seats, the Coalition had 33 and Labor had 25, with the remaining eight belonging to independents, the Palmer United Party, the Liberal Democratic Party, Family First and the Motoring Enthusiast Party.

“It is vital that this Parliament works”, said Mr Turnbull, adding that Australia faced numerous challenges including a rocky transition away from a dependence on mining-driven growth.

Labor MP Terri Butler, who has previously sponsored a cross-party bill to legislate marriage equality, said she would do whatever she could to avoid a divisive plebiscite.

After an eight-week election campaign that ended July 2, neither the Labor Party nor the conservative coalition, which defeated the Labor government in the last national election in 2013, wanted to concede defeat amid uncertainty over whether either side would win a critical number of seats.

The Prime Minister said it was too early to speculate whether the Government would be able to pass the legislation which he used to trigger the double dissolution election – bills to crack down on union corruption and reinstate the construction industry watchdog. “Everything we do is about the future”, Turnbull said. “We’ve gone through this election with fiercely fought arguments, issues of policy, issues of principle and we’ve done so peacefully and constructively”. “We’re trustees for our little grandchildren and of course their grandchildren”.

The Australian Broadcasting Corp. predicted the coalition would get 77 seats, scraping it to a majority in the 150-member lower house.

“So I have spoken to Mr Turnbull earlier this afternoon to congratulate him and [his wife] Lucy and to wish them my very best”.

Malcolm Turnbull has promised to legislate for a plebiscite to be held on the issue by the end of the year, but Labor says it’s a waste of $160 million.

“I understand we need to make this parliament function and we’ll be up for that”, Mr Shorten said.

Shorten said they had a mandate to stand up for Medicare to make sure schools are properly funded and to prioritise Australian jobs. The commission still must wait up to 13 days after the election for votes cast by mail.

“One thing which unites Turnbull and I is our love of Australia and our huge respect for our democracy”.

FILE – In this July 1, 2016, file photo, Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull smile while greeting people during a walk through of a shopping street in Burwood, Sydney.

Thanking his voters, Shorten said “I want to reassure them, that despite Labor not winning enough seats this time, that the Labor party will stick true to its core values, its and promises and beliefs”.

What could count is the warm relationship New Zealand Prime Minister John Key has with Mr Turnbull, with some commentators saying there could be concessions because of Mr Key’s continued pressure.