Cabinet minister Christopher Pyne has declared the Coalition has won the federal election with 74 seats “in the bank”, claiming a win is “very likely” in three more.
Labor’s deputy leader, Tanya Plibersek, has refused to concede defeat. Although she agreed it is likely the Coalition will form government, she claimed it was still likely to fall short of winning 76 seats to give it a majority.
Speaking on Channel Nine’s Today program on Friday morning, Pyne said: “We’ve won the election.
“We’ve got 74 seats in the bank and very likely to win Herbert, Capricornia and Flynn.
“We’re even an outside chance still in Hindmarsh and Cowan, so we will form a majority government and we’re also making arrangements with some of the crossbenchers for supply and confidence.”
On Thursday crossbench MP Bob Katter declared he will guarantee confidence and supply in the event the Coalition has to form a minority government.
Pyne, the industry minister, said the size of the victory was “not unlike the victory of Bob Hawke in 1990” and guaranteed “a solid government”.
“We have won again,” he said. “That’s our sixth victory out of eight [elections] in the last 20 years. You have to say that we are an election-winning machine in the Liberal party.”
Guardian Australia’s count has awarded the Coalition 72 seats. It is ahead in Forde and Gilmore, which account for Pyne’s claim it has 74 seats “in the bank”.
Labor has won 66 seats and independents and minor parties have won five.
The remaining five seats in doubt are:
- Capricornia, where the Labor party leads by 476 votes
- Cowan, where Labor leads by 534
- Herbert, where Labor leads by 449
- Hindmarsh, where Labor leads by 68
- Flynn, where Labor leads by 646
Wins in Herbert, Capricornia and Flynn would take the Coalition to 77 seats.
Pyne’s claim the Coalition was “very likely” to win those three seats is based on the fact on Thursday it cut Labor’s margins due to a strong flow of postal votes to the Coalition.
Asked on ABC’s AM on Friday if Labor had lost, Plibersek said “we need to let the Australian Electoral Commission complete its work”.
“But if you were a betting person you’d have to say it’s more likely that the Turnbull government, as probably a minority government, a very unstable minority government, will be returned.”
“The idea that Christopher [Pyne] could suggest this is anything but a complete repudiation of the agenda set by Tony Abbott, Joe Hockey and then Malcolm Turnbull and Scott Morrison is extreme.”
Plibersek said Labor may still win the two-party preferred vote, which it currently leads by just 651 votes out of more than 10m counted so far.
Speaking on Radio National on Friday, Anthony Albanese also refused to concede defeat.
Albanese, who was a potential challenger for the Labor leadership until he ruled it out on Monday, said he would move a motion at Friday’s caucus meeting backing Bill Shorten as leader and allowing him to negotiate with the crossbench.
“We are in circumstances whereby the election still hasn’t been determined, votes are still being counted, and we want to make sure we get that certainty there for Bill Shorten and for the Labor leadership team,” he said.
“Whether there is a majority or minority government remains to be seen.”
Albanese said “nobody has ever said they’re about to challenge Bill Shorten”.
“Bill Shorten will be elected unopposed, that was always going to happen after this election result.”
