Australia's government tightened its tenuous grip on power with the former deputy prime minister's re-election to Parliament on Saturday, five weeks after he was thrown out for breaching the constitution. Barnaby Joyce won a by-election and will return as Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's deputy when Parliament resumes this coming week. Another by-election in two weeks could return the government to the single-seat majority it held in October when the High Court created a constitutional crisis. He had argued against such an inquiry for almost two years, but government lawmakers were threatening to band with opposition lawmakers to force it to happen. The government has mostly trailed the center-left opposition in opinion polls since it was re-elected for another three-year term last year.

Source: ABC News December 02, 2017 09:57 UTC