Speaker's exit strengthens Labor in Australia's Parliament

Nov 24, 2011, 2:44 GMT

Sydney - Australia's Labor government received a boost Thursday with the resignation of the speaker of the House of Representatives giving it one more vote in the lower house.

Harry Jenkins, a Labor member, will regain the right to vote in Parliament with the rest of his party, which he could not do as speaker.

Gillard Prime Minister Julia Gillard nominated opposition member Peter Slipper, who was voted in as new speaker.

Slipper was expelled from the Liberal-National opposition coalition for accepting the premier's offer, leaving him to serve as an independent.

Gillard's Labor now has 76 votes on the floor of the 150-member house, against 73 for the conservative opposition.

The convention is that the speaker does not vote in divisions, but has a casting vote in a no-confidence motion.

After a dead-heat general election in August 2010, Gillard won government by gaining the support of three independents and the lone Greens member.

She will still need the support of those allies to get bills through parliament, but the new figures make her majority less precarious.