Three independent politicians who will likely decide which party governs Australia said today they plan to demand details of how much competing election promises would cost the nation over the next three years.

Leaders of Australia’s two major political parties lobbied for support from independent MPs today to stitch together the nation’s first minority government since the war.

LEADERS of Australia’s two major political parties lobbied for support from independent lawmakers yesterday to stitch together the nation’s first minority government since World War II after the closest election in almost 50 years.

The leaders of Australia’s two major political parties began negotiating power deals with independent lawmakers today after the nation’s closest election in decades failed to deliver a clear mandate to govern.

Prime minister Julia Gillard said today no major party had won a majority of parliamentary seats in Australia’s general election and she had started negotiating with independent MPs in an effort to cling to power.

It could take more than a week to learn who will govern Australia after a cliffhanger election – the closest in nearly 50 years – and the winner may have to woo the support of a handful of independent lawmakers in order to assume power.

TROOPS began delivering aid yesterday to an estimated 7,000 people who lost their homes to the cyclone that battered Australia's northeastern coast.

Troops began moving aid to the cyclone-shattered town of Innisfail today as residents picked through waterlogged streets littered with rubble and mangled roofs destroyed by one of Australia’s most powerful cyclones in decades.