Prime Minister Julia Gillard will lead Australia's first minority government

[MikeLigalig.com]

By ROD McGUIRK, Associated Press Writer

CANBERRA, Australia â€" Prime Minister Julia Gillard will lead Australia's first minority government in 67 years after two independent lawmakers threw their support behind her center-left Labor Party on Tuesday, ending two weeks of uncertainty left by national elections that ended on a knife-edge.

Australia's first female prime minister promised her government will be stable over the next three years, although the defection of a single lawmaker would bring down her administration.

"Labor is prepared to deliver stable, effective and secure government for the next three years," she told reporters.

The independents' support means Gillard can continue with her plans to introduce a 30 percent tax on iron ore and coal miners' burgeoning profits, and make Australia's biggest polluters pay for carbon gas emissions.

Labor gained the ability to form a government for a second term after two independent lawmakers â€" Tony Windsor and Rob Oakeshott â€" joined her coalition more than two weeks after elections failed to deliver a clear winner for the first time since 1940.