Australians went to the polls on August 21, 2010, and voted for the first hung parliament since the end of World War II. This development presents unique challenges to national governance and foreign policy. The Australian Labor Party, Labor for short, governs with the support of the only member of the Australian Greens in the House of Representatives and three independents. As both Labor and the conservative Liberal National Party Coalition failed to secure the minimum of 76 seats required to form government--each attained 72 out of 150 seats--a caretaker government served until the last independents declared their position on September 7. Two independent Members of Parliament (MP) opted for the conservatives. Michael Sutton examines what the recent elections in Australia mean for the US-Australia relations.

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