India’s interest in the political future of Australia is understandable. In recent years, Indian nationals working or studying in Australia are increasingly facing abuse — apparently of a racial nature — from white Australians. Many of these episodes have ended up in death. And yet, the administration of Kevin Rudd, the recently deposed prime minister and leader of the Centre-Left Labour Party, failed to take any decisive action on such racial crimes. So India may well hope that Mr Rudd’s successor and party colleague, Julia Gillard, who became the first female prime minister of her country, would be more proactive in making Australia a safer and more equitable place for immigrants. Such an expectation is not unwarranted. After all, Ms Gillard has cobbled together a ‘rainbow coalition’ with crucial support from one Green and three Independent members of parliament. And the Greens want the new government to focus on humane treatment of asylum-seekers and other foreigners in Australia. So this is Ms Gillard’s best chance of salvaging the global image of her country even as she tries to repair the schisms within her party.

Yet, it would be imprudent to describe the return of the Labour as the triumph of stability. Evidently, Labour had to forego a sizeable chunk of its support base as disenchanted voters defected over to the Greens. Although Labour did eventually manage to retain power, voting trends clearly reflected the people’s desire for change. Scrounging a majority by one precious seat — which implies that a single by-election can potentially wipe out the coalition — can hardly be treated as a convincing index of credibility. Ms Gillard’s foremost challenge, on taking office, would involve delicate, and perhaps shrewdly diplomatic, negotiations with her variously interested allies. Although a certain degree of consensus exists between the Greens and the Labour on the imposition of taxes on mining, the Independents remain firmly resistant to such measures. The latter wants the government to put more emphasis on rural development, an agenda that is also shared by the Opposition. The demand for the legalization of same-sex marriages, put forth by the Greens, is also under a cloud. Power always comes riddled with pitfalls. The new prime minister would do well to remember that bouquets are, most often, accompanied by brickbats.