A TEN-billion dollar package for rural Australia including major commitments on health, regional development and broadband has delivered support for a return of the Gillard Government after two of the three rural independents confirmed they would side with Labor.
New England MP Tony Windsor and Lyne's Rob Oakeshott have ended the political deadlock and given the Prime Minister a one seat-majority, following more than two weeks of horse trading and uncertainty in the wake of a hung-parliament election at the end of last month.
Click here for details on Labor's additional spending programs for the bush.
Details of the impact of the negotiations on the Budget are here.
Fellow independent Bob Katter broke ranks with his colleagues just hours before they announced their decision to declare his support for the Coalition, with it still unclear whether he will offer confidence and support supply in a Labor Government given the decision of the other two men.
Mr Windsor and Mr Oakeshott said stability of Government and the ability for the Government in place to deliver outcomes were their core considerations.
They cautioned Labor not to see this confirmation of support as a mandate and called on the Government to now work to bring Australia together.
Mr Windsor said both Labor and the Coalition had admitted the regions had missed out in the past, and vowed to address major issues of inequity in the areas of health, education and infrastructure.
For him, broadband was the key policy which steered him towards Labor.
For Mr Oakeshott, broadband, climate change and regional education were the key issues in his "line-ball" decision.
Mr Windsor said when he sought advice on how broadband should be delivered he was told "do it once, do it right and do it with fibre".
While aware there would be some in his electorate that would not agree with his decision, Mr Windsor said now was the time to revisit the issue of climate change and how best to deal with it, and believed there were major opportunities available to regional communities in renewable energy and its role in action on climate change.
He said regional Australia could be an "enormous beneficiary" in the debate on how best to address climate change.
But Mr Windsor warned country people to use the political system to their advantage to ensure their vote counted, urging them not to continue voting the same way they always had.
Mr Oakeshott said the past fortnight's negotiations had secured a regional Australia package which would "turbo-charge" the regions.
He said the independents did not enter the negotiations asking for regional commitments over and above what was available to those in metropolitan Australia.
"We were asking for equity," he said. "Equity has not been delivered to regional Australia for too long."
Mr Katter said earlier that after submitting a list of 20 core priority areas for him, he would offer his support to the Coalition because it could meet eight of those priorities.
Mr Katter secured commitments on property rights, indigenous housing, carbon reduction, the mining tax, ethanol, and the power of the major supermarkets.
Mr Katter pointed to the "enormous anger" over the deposing of Kevin Rudd as Prime Minister as another factor behind his decision, and conceded he probably would have supported Labor had Mr Rudd still been Prime Minister.
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