Government Narrowly Survives Vote of No Confidence thanks to Nationals Backflip

^{BY MELISSA LON AND JAMES JAMESONSON}

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The Government has narrowly survived a vote of no confidence, despite the fact that it does not hold a majority of seats in the House of Representatives. The motion, moved by Social Democratic Leader u/Youmaton, resulted in a 5-5 tie, with Nationals leader u/riley8583 backflipping on his previous stance to support the government.

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The Prime Minister

The motion of no confidence had the support of both the opposition United Democratic Party and crossbench Social Democratic Party, which together hold six seats. However, the Member for Mayo, u/MattMonti (SDP) failed to vote, and the independent Member for Nichols, who previously pledged his support to the government, abstained. As such, the result was a tie and the motion was defeated.

But perhaps most peculiar was the vote in support of the government from Nationals leader u/riley8583, who previously announced that his party was withdrawing from the governing coalition. During debate on the motion, he stated that "the Prime Minister is unfit for office and that is why I will be supporting this no confidence motion". He has made no statement on why he voted against the no confidence motion.

The Prime Minister stated to The Courier Mail that surviving such a motion was "a testament to our Government".

"Surviving two votes of no confidence is significant in this day and age, with multiple Governments in the last 6 months falling due to these votes" he said.

The Leader of the Opposition, u/dyljam, stated to National Review that the government "got lucky".

"The government continues to hold a minority in the House. But as a crossbench MP forgot to vote, the Prime Minister was able to live another day." he continued.

But the government is not yet in the clear. There are three by-elections which will take place this Sunday, in the seats of Cowper, Moncrieff and Robertson. The outcome of these elections may drastically change the makeup of the House, and may result in the movement of yet another no confidence motion.

When asked if he would introduce another motion of no confidence if the by-elections resulted in his favour, u/dyljam replied "Yes".