BOTH sides of politics look set to make major concessions by way of regional projects and funding in a bid to win over the three powerful country independents and end the uncertainty over who will take Government following the election more than 10 days ago.
With results in the three crucial polling outcomes – the seat count, the primary vote and the two-party preferred vote – all fluctuating over recent days, hopes a Government might be formed by the end of this week are quickly fading.
Parliament House has become negotiation central as politicians return to the capital to take part in key meetings with cross bench MPs, including independents Tony Windsor, Bob Katter and Rob Oakeshott, as well as West Australian National MP Tony Crook, who has not declared his support to help form a Coalition Government.
While obviously neither party has declared themselves a winner in what this week has become an even tighter contest than first thought, there is a mood of confidence among Coalition MPs. Some have privately expressing they think they will get the numbers they need to form minority government.
Parliamentary reforms have been pivotal negotiating points, but regional projects are still high on the agenda, particularly for the Coalition.
Media reports out on Tuesday suggested Liberal leader Tony Abbott was making plans to give more money to regional and rural communities across a range of projects.
It was said this was to appeal to the three rural independents, but could also be seen as a measure of keeping the peace with National party MPs who successfully ran a strong "fair share for the regions" campaign, despite the fact this did not gain much national or metropolitan media traction.
While Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, did not detail any specific commitment changes to target rural areas in her address to the National Press Club this week, Labor is still expected to put forward more targeted funding proposals for rural areas to also woo the independents.
In her press club address, Ms Gillard said there was no scramble on the Labor side of politics to try and rediscover regional Australia because Labor had never lost it.
She said Labor had delivered on long-term planning commitments with local communities, and stressed the Government's response to the global financial crisis had created many jobs in regional Australia.
She said infrastructure investments in the last term had been heavily focussed on the regions, as had policy commitments on renewable energy, water, broadband, health and education.
Mr Abbott said the three rural independents "all want to see the best possible deal for our country and particularly for regional Australia and I think the Coalition can deliver that".
"I think that whether you’re a country Liberal, a National Party member or a rural independent, you’re basically articulating the discontent of rural Australia," Mr Abbott said.
"The one third of Australians who don’t live in metropolitan areas I think quite understandably feel that they’ve been neglected by city-centric politicians and particularly by a city-centric Labor Party…essentially, they’re speaking the same language and I think the Coalition is very well placed to respond to those concerns."
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