booth in the electorate, receiving about two-thirds of the primary vote. The extent of his primary vote saw him receive more than $100,000 in electoral reimbursements from the Australian Electoral Commission. In his first term, Oakeshott voted 32 times with the ruling Labor government (including in support of the proposed emission trading scheme) and nine times with the opposition. He has explained that this record was not indicative of support for Labor's policy platform, but rather because he believed in allowing governments to govern. Second term – support for minority government Oakeshott was re-elected in the 2010 Australian federal election. With neither Labor nor the Liberal/National Coalition having enough members to form government on their own, he became one of a number of independents whose support was sought by both sides in a bid to form a minority government. Among the legislation that he supported was the proposed emissions trading scheme. Oakeshott decided with the other incumbent independents, Bob Katter and Tony Windsor, to negotiate as a bloc. While holding different opinions on the issue of climate change, all three have highlighted broadband as a policy important to them. Oakeshott expressed his desire to establish stable government and raised concerns that a 76-seat government was "a by-election away from trouble" and, to avoid this, he proposed the formation of a government with ministers from both of the usually antagonistic major parties. If no stable government capable of governing for the full three-year term could be formed, he recommended that the government should call a new election. On 7 September 2010, Oakeshott gave his backing to the formation of a Labor minority government. He made the announcement at the end of a 17-minute speech. After announcing his decision, he stated that he had been offered a ministry by Julia Gillard and would be considering the offer. On 10 September 2010 he announced that he had turned down becoming the minister for Regional Australia, a portfolio created because of the agreement between himself, Tony Windsor and the ALP. Oakeshott later released a statement saying that he would accept nomination to be the Speaker of the Australian House of Representatives if he were nominated by another member, provided proposed Parliamentary reforms were put into place. In the event, he was not nominated, and Labor's Harry Jenkins was elected unopposed as speaker. Following Jenkins' resignation from the speakership in November 2011, Oakeshott was again