CANBERRA - Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard secured a second term in office Tuesday, winning the support of independent lawmakers to form a minority Labor government after losing her majority at elections last month. Gillard's success sent a shudder through mining shares and the Australian dollar, with her government vowing to press ahead with a new mining tax and work toward a scheme that would force major polluters to pay for their carbon emissions. With four of the five cross-bench MPs in the new parliament now backing Gillard, she has a majority of just one seat and a tenuous grip on power. "I will reserve the right to represent my constituency on any vote in the parliament and also reserve the right to move a no-confidence motion in the government as I see fit," said rural independent Tony Windsor in announcing he would back Labor. The four have all made clear they will support a stable Labor government and back its budgets, but they pointedly do not guarantee their support for Labor policies, reserving the right to vote independently on each one. "This parliament is going to be different and no one party has dominance over the executive or the parliament," independent lawmaker Rob Oakeshott told reporters at parliament house after announcing the decision alongside colleague Windsor. "That is just the reality of the way we are going to do business over the next three years." But with Labor in minority in the lower house and the Greens to control the balance of power in the upper house Senate from July 2011, Gillard will need all her negotiating skills to not just pass policy, but ensure Labor survives its three-year term. "It's really anyone's guess how long the government will last and how effective it will be and I don't think you can really pre-judge the outcome," said Brian Redican, senior economist at Macuarie Bank. Gillard and conservative leader Tony Abbott had been desperately wooing three undecided independents since dead-heat August 21 elections and Tuesday agreed to reforms demanded by the trio, including brakes on executive power over parliament.
