AUSTRALIA will never see a strong and stable government if there is another hung parliament, Opposition Leader Tony Abbott says.
Mr Abbott again ruled out becoming the leader of a minority coalition government, if the 7 September federal election results in an outcome similar to that in 2010.
“The short answer is yes,” he told reporters in the Labor-held Queensland seat of Blair.
“We want to deliver a strong government, we want to deliver a decisive government that gets on with the job of building a better Australia.
“And we will not get that from another minority government.”
Mr Abbott said the last three years of the Labor minority government had been marked by betrayals, compromises and abandonment of commitments.
“Do you want three more years of this?
“If the answer is `no, for God’s sake, don’t give us this’, well, you’ve got to vote for a Liberal National candidate.”
Asked if this meant Mr Abbott would rather see a Labor minority government than a coalition minority government, he said: “I want to see a strong and stable government.
“We will never see a strong and stable government from a hung parliament.”
Opinion polls currently show the coalition narrowly ahead of Labor on a two-party basis.
Australian Greens leader Christine Milne called Mr Abbott arrogant, saying he was already assuming he will be prime minister.
“He thinks he’s got this in the bag,” she told reporters in Melbourne.
“His undertaking would last no more than 30 seconds after an election.
“He would either change his position or the Liberal Party would change their leadership, that is what has always happened in the past.”
She said the Greens would not support an Abbott government and would not support the Rudd government’s position on asylum seekers. – AAP