Australian PM Malcolm Turnbull takes blame for poll debacle but refuses to quit

Sydney: Australian leader Malcolm Turnbull took full responsibility on Tuesday for a disastrous election campaign which has left his government in doubt, but said he would not resign.

The final result from Saturday polls is still unclear, but Turnbull’s conservative coalition has lost its comfortable majority in Canberra’s 150-seat House of Representatives.

The government and the opposition Labor Party are currently each short of the 76 seats needed to govern, and with the vote count ongoing, there is the prospect of a hung parliament.

“I want to make it quite clear that as prime minister and leader of the Liberal Party, I take full responsibility for our campaign,” Turnbull told reporters in Sydney. “The Australian people have voted, and we respect the result.”

In sharp contrast to an angry speech in the hours after the vote, he acknowledged there was a swing against his Liberal/National coalition, but said general voter dissatisfaction also played a part. Millions of Australians cast their votes for independents and minor parties, resulting in them likely winning at least five seats in the lower house.

It is a similar story in the upper house Senate, with anti-immigration firebrand Pauline Hanson set to make a return to Canberra after an absence of nearly 20 years.

“There is no doubt that there is a level of disillusionment with politics, with government, and with the major parties. Our own included. We note that. We respect it,” Turnbull said.

But the millionaire former banker and barrister also attacked his Labor opponents, accusing them of a dishonest scare campaign targeting the nation's universal healthcare system which he said amounted to a “shocking lie”.

On Monday, Labor leader Bill Shorten urged the prime minister to resign. But Turnbull said he was confident of forming a majority government.