Julia Gillard becomes Australian PM

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard said she was aiming to lead a stable minority government after winning support from key independent lawmakers.

Gillard and Abbott had been desperately wooing the independents for their support for a minority government since August 21 elections delivered the country's first hung parliament since World War Two.

She said: ""Labor is prepared to govern. Labor is prepared to deliver stable, effective and secure government for the next three years"

Labor have promised a controversial mining profits tax and a $38 billion broadband project as well a price on carbon to curb one of the world's highest per-capita levels of emissions.

"They are pretty significant issues with significant amounts of money wrapped up in all three of those policies, so I think a lot more certainty on the government side and those policy fronts will be welcomed by business leaders," said Stephen Halmarick, Head of Investment Markets Research with Colonial First State.