The shock has set in, the speeches are done, the make-up of the House of Assembly will take some time and so will good government.

I estimate that the House of Assembly will have been out of action for about six months before you start getting a return on your investment.

Some of it is due to the unavoidable process of establishing a new chamber; and a lot of it is due to politics.

Parliament costs taxpayers $53.3 million a year to operate, or on average just over $1 million a week, to fund MPs, the ministry and various parliamentary departments and functions.

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The less they sit the more we lose in terms of value for money.

There are about 70 bills on the House of Assembly notice paper listed as current.

Assuming the sponsors want to proceed with them, given there could be a change of government, then each bill will have to be recommitted because when the House is dissolved for an election the bills fall off the notice paper.

The House last enjoyed a full sitting in the week starting November 21 last year.

A few cobwebs will have adorned some of the furniture in the absence of sittings.

The sitting schedules for 2024 for both chambers have been cleared, pending the new government's decision on sitting dates.

That's the formal process.

The election count and preferences cut-up will last well into April if not longer.

They won't start the cut-up for about two weeks to allow for all postal votes to be counted.

If there is a majority government the process will be quicker, especially if the Libs defied the trend and won a majority.

If Labor won a majority we would be waiting longer for Parliament to resume because the new Labor Government would have to reorganise the bureaucracy, hire staff and give new Ministers time to come up to speed.

If there is a hung parliament the wait could be drawn out because of the horse trading and deal making.

The Governor is likely to tell Premier Jeremy Rockliff to test his support on the floor of Parliament, at which time his government would fall if it lost the likely no confidence motion.

This is what happened in 1989 when the Libs fell short of a majority and Labor struck an Accord with the Greens.

In spite of the "Accord" the Governor still told the Libs to test their support on the floor of the House and of course they lost the vote.

I remember it well.

The Government was finally defeated at around 7am after an all-night sitting, featuring a host of time-wasting speeches.

In the US Congress they call it a filibuster.

If one of the major parties manages to strike a deal with the cross bench of minor parties and independents the Governor would still want to be satisfied that a stable government could be formed and may wish to speak to the likely new Premier and the cross-bench MPs.

All this takes time.

It may be, that we are waiting until late May or even June before the new Parliament enjoys its first sitting.

In the Legislative Council they may have to bide their time before they see government legislation from the House that is ready for review.

The council may not be ready to sit until after the May bout of Upper House elections so the cobwebs might be mounting up by then.

Such is the price of democracy.

I'm not that cynical about this.

The House of Assembly should be allowed to get the democracy right so that we can look forward to stable government, whether it's a majority of minority government.

A common view is that judging by past experience a hung parliament would only last about two years before we are forced back to the polls.

The hung parliaments in 1989 and 1996 lasted only two years but the Labor minority governments between 2010 and 2014 lasted longer because Labor incorporated Greens in Cabinet, in a Coalition.

And, there's nothing wrong with coalitions.

The Libs and the National Party in Canberra have enjoyed long periods of stability, except for a breakdown in 1987-88 when the Coalition fractured.

I can't see the Libs asking John Tucker or Lara Alexander to join a Coalition because neither would want it.

Labor would have a better chance with the Greens and Jacqui Lambie Network and I imagine other independents would not oppose a coalition or deal because they are all sick of the Liberal Government.

I am reliably informed that hell would have to freeze over before the Labor Caucus would even think about having David O'Byrne back into the fold even if his support was crucial.

So that's my dogs' breakfast.

They may make a mug of this column and have Parliament humming in record time, but I doubt it.

In the end you got what you voted for.

Time to let them sort it out.