Independents to meet with Australian political leaders
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The three incumbent Australian federal independent Member of Parliaments will meet with Labor and the Coalition on Wednesday, but they are warning the process of forming the nation's next government could take weeks.
Tony Windsor, Rob Oakeshott and Bob Katter will start their formal talks on Wednesday to work out which party they will side with in the hung parliament.
The trio will then address the National Press Club with new Greens Member of Parliament Adam Bandt, followed by talks with Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Opposition Leader Tony Abbott in the afternoon.
While both Labor and the Coalition will be working hard to gain support from these independents, Windsor said he does not want to rush the process.
"It's a critical process and it's something that doesn't need to be rushed," he said.
"We're in a caretaker mode, things are happening, ministers are signing cheques and whatever else.
"Out of our next meeting there will be things that we will need answered and we will need time to get those answers and then try and construct a process where we will be constructive and positive.
"We really need to sit down, work through some of the issues, find out what information we may or may not need - in terms of some of the policy stuff, the numbers and how they're crunching and that sort of stuff."
Katter is also keeping with the same timeframe as the other independents.
"We're looking at the end of the next week before anything's finally decided and it really would be jumping the gun for us to be talking in a serious end-of-game manner," Katter told ABC Wednesday.
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