THE Greens and the independents have offered Tony Abbott the opportunity to help govern from opposition, saying they would pass any policies with which they agreed, including paid parental leave, whether Labor liked it or not.
As the political establishment comes to grips with the concept of minority government, the Greens leader Bob Brown said the Parliament belonged to everybody, not just the government.
''Please think about it,'' he said.
He was backed by the independent Tony Windsor, who suggested the Coalition tone down its venomous attacks on the government and independents.
''There's good stuff that can come from anywhere and that's why the Liberals are silly to be running this sort of stuff,'' he told the Herald.
''They can do things with us and the executive won't have the power to shut them down. The opposition can be part of the government, too.''
The opposition childcare spokeswoman, Sharman Stone, was attracted to the idea of putting forward the Coalition's generous paid parental leave scheme which the Greens broadly favour.
''Our lines of communication have always been open to anyone who wants to talk about helping to deliver our better policy,'' she said.
The Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young was keen to explore the idea.
Senator Brown suggested weekly policy meetings with Mr Abbott, as he will have with the Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, and mentioned possible policy deals on mental health, dental care and biosecurity.
The opportunity was offered as the Coalition abandoned Mr Abbott's pledge of a kinder and gentler polity and challenged the very legitimacy of the minority Labor government, saying it was unstable, unworkable and defied commonsense.
The claims of instability were dampened when it emerged the shadow finance minister, Andrew Robb, had spent the day sounding out colleagues about challenging Julie Bishop for the deputy leadership at today's party-room meeting.
The move was called off late yesterday after powerbrokers intervened, saying it would destabilise the Coalition at a time it was trying to portray the government as unstable.
If Mr Robb had been successful, he would have been able to choose the portfolio of shadow treasurer which he desires, pushing out Joe Hockey.
Liberal MPs said Mr Robb's aborted move was a warning that they expected Mr Abbott to agree to significant changes next week when he reshuffles his frontbench, not the minimal changes flagged on Tuesday.
Ms Gillard governs with the bare majority of 76 seats, thanks to the support of the Greens MP, Adam Bandt, and the three independents, Mr Windsor, Andrew Wilkie and Rob Oakeshott.
Mr Oakeshott is considering accepting the newly created cabinet post of minister for regional Australia but fears it may bind his vote and is seeking advice.
The independents have agreed only to guarantee stability of tenure by supporting the government against reckless no-confidence motions and to ensure supply.
Mr Abbott attacked Ms Gillard, saying she was as illegitimate as her government because she had been installed by factions and then by independents. ''It is a government that's utterly without a mandate,'' he said.
Coalition MPs, furious that Mr Windsor and Mr Oakeshott sided with Labor, lined up to demand the end of the arrangement and predicted its early demise.
''This is an illegitimate government that is inherently unstable,'' Mr Hockey said.
The Liberal senator George Brandis implied corruption by saying the government had ''as much legitimacy as the Pakistani cricket team''.
Their rage was fuelled by Mr Windsor saying that the tax summit which the independents had secured from the government should examine the mining tax.
The Treasurer, Wayne Swan, said that was not part of the agreement and that the mining tax was being reviewed by a panel led by the former BHP Billiton chairman Don Argus.
Mr Oakeshott backed Mr Swan and later Mr Windsor said he had made a mistake.
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