<P> In the 2010 federal election, neither Labor nor the Liberal coalition secured the majority of seats required to form a Government in their own right . In order to counter the potential instability of minority government involved groups may negotiate written agreements defining their terms of support . Such measures were undertaken by the Gillard Government in 2010 . </P> <P> In India if an election results in a' hung assembly' in one of the state Legislative Assemblies and no party is capable of gaining confidence then fresh elections are announced to be held as soon as possible . Until this occurs President's Rule (or in the State of Jammu and Kashmir' Governor's Rule') is applied . In India there have been many situations of hung assemblies in the state legislatures . </P> <P> The first such occasion was in 1911 when the Liberal Party won less seats than the opposition Reform Party despite tallying the most votes . The Liberal's scathed through a vote of no confidence by just one vote . This prompted Prime Minister Sir Joseph Ward to resign, his replacement Thomas Mackenzie was later defeated in July 1912 in a vote with several MPs and Labour crossing the floor to vote with the opposition, the last time in New Zealand history a government has changed on a confidence vote . This broke 23 years of Liberal governance and William Massey formed a new Reform Party government . Massey governed through to his death in 1925, though in 1922 the Reform Party suffered major losses and Massey was forced negotiate with several Independent MPs to retain power . </P> <P> In 1928, Reform were ousted from governance and Joseph Ward once again won back power . However, the Reform and United (Liberal) parties were tied on seats with Labour holding the balance of power . They chose to back Ward rather than let Reform leader Gordon Coates remain . In the next election in 1931, there was again a three - way deadlock . On this occasion the Reform and United parties became a coalition government out of mutual fear of Labour's ever increasing appeal as the Great Depression worsened . </P>

When was the last time we had a hung parliament