Australia missed opportunity for electoral reform: Norman

Australia has missed an opportunity for electoral reform but it will eventually happen, New Zealand's Green Party co-leader Russel Norman says.

Australia's Labor Party yesterday - two weeks after the election - retained power by the slimmest of margins when independents Tony Windsor and Rob Oakeshott declared they would back Prime Minister Julia Gillard's Government.

Earlier in the day North Queensland independent MP Bob Katter said he would back opposition leader Tony Abbott's conservative coalition to form minority government in Australia.

Greens member Adam Bandt previously stated he would work with Labor.

That left Ms Gillard with 76 seats in the lower house to Mr Abbott's 74.

Mr Katter has criticised the system: "What you are watching here over the last 25 years is a tightening of the tyranny of the majority and I represent the people that are particularly suffering as a result."

However, Dr Norman said the independents had not pushed for reform the way the Greens had and did not use their bargaining power to effect.

"The independents, because they are elected under the current system, probably wouldn't benefit from a more MMP-style proportional system. But it's certainly a missed opportunity for smaller parties and also for the electorate as a whole because it means that the number of seats don't directly represent the votes that parties get."

Dr Norman said the Australian Greens would have 16 seats under MMP.

"It's certainly good that there's Green involvement in the formation of the government, but obviously there's still a bit of a log jam there in terms of electoral reform and the absence of a proportional system.

"So that's been really hard for the Greens who only got one seat when they should have got 16 but you know they will keep pushing on it and eventually they will get a democratic system in Australia like we've got here."