CANBERRA-Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard inched closer to a return to power on Thursday after one of four independent lawmakers holding the balance of power threw his support behind her Labor Party. Labor has promised to introduce a new tax on mining profits tax and a $38 billion telecoms project if it wins a second term after an indecisive August 21 election. Independent Andrew Wilkie's decision to back Gillard means Labor can now claim 74 seats in the 150-member lower house of parliament, still two short of the number required to rule. The conservative opposition has 73 seats, but it could still win the race to form a government if the three remaining rural-based independents line up behind its leader, Tony Abbott. Their decision may not come until early next week. "I have judged that it is in fact (Labor) that best meets my criteria that the next government must be stable, must be competent and must be ethical," Wilkie told reporters at parliament in Canberra. "A future Gillard Labor government will have my vote on matters of supply. Furthermore I will not support any unwarranted no-confidence motion brought to bear against a future Gillard Labor government." Wilkie had demanded gambling reforms in return for his support, to limit the amount people could lose on gaming machines. A crackdown on gambling would affect stocks like Tabcorp Holdings, Tatts, Crown and Aristocrat Leisure. "The prime minister has agreed that should she form the next government, the government will work to implement pre-commitment technologies on every poker machine in Australia by 2014," he said. "These are ways of individual gamblers being recognized by the machines and by the network of the machines, which is a very effective way ... to rein in problem gambling." Labor's proposed super tax on mining profits would hit miners Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton. So far financial markets have not been ruffled by the political uncertainty. Investors are more focused on the risk that economic weakness in the United States and Japan could spill into Australia, undermining its relatively robust growth. Nevertheless, the Australian economy remains in rude health. Data released on Wednesday showed that the country's gross domestic product (GDP) rose by 3.3 percent in the second quarter from the same period in 2009.
