Paul Starick analysis: Steven Marshall is enduring his worst nightmare as Liberal leader

Steven Marshall is living through his own worst nightmare - a party at war with itself, writes Paul Starick, as he analyses the Liberal defectors, the factional war lords and MPs teetering on the edge.

Premier Steven Marshall’s leadership is firmly under the microscope after a rash of defections and a late-night coup culminating in Liberal Party turncoat Dan Cregan being elevated to the speaker’s job with support from Labor and a crossbench which has been swelling in size.

What are the machinations that have led to this critical moment for the Marshall Government?

Editor at Large Paul Starick has taken a closer look at the bitter turmoil brewing on North Terrace, profiling the growing list of Liberal defectors, the MPs currently teetering on the edge and the factional warlords wielding power and influence behind the scenes.

ANALYSIS: THE OUTBREAK MARSHALL FEARED MOST

A distracted Premier Steven Marshall is enduring his worst nightmare as Liberal leader – an outbreak of the infighting that crippled his party for years.

The internal Liberal peace that has been the hallmark of his almost nine years as leader has been skewered within four days by former party rising star Dan Cregan defecting to the crossbench, then ousting the Speaker in a late-night coup.

The defection of Mr Cregan, a conservative who holds the Adelaide Hills seat of Kavel, has wrecked the government’s working majority and plunged parliament into chaos.

A Labor-independent alliance is trampling over the government – already triggering an extraordinary parliamentary inquiry into Deputy Premier Vickie Chapman, ousting Josh Teague as Speaker and moving to extend parliamentary sittings in the lead-up to next March’s election.

Focused on managing the Covid-19 pandemic that has bolstered his political stocks, Mr Marshall has been found wanting in his management of his own party. The former businessman’s weaknesses have been ruthlessly and systematically exposed.

His upbeat manner might have prompted Prime Minister Scott Morrison to liken him to a furry quokka but insufficient carrot and stick has been applied to his own MPs to keep them in the fold.

Alarmingly for Mr Marshall, Labor is harnessing Liberal conservative antipathy to the party’s dominant Moderate faction, of which Mr Marshall and Ms Chapman are senior members.

The roots of this division are deep-seated and multigenerational. They date back to the bitter infighting that cruelled the Liberals throughout the 1990s and 2000s, resulting in them enduring 16 years in Opposition.

As a key case in point, the parliamentary inquiry will examine whether Ms Chapman had a conflict of interest and breached the ministerial code of conduct in rejecting an application to build a deepwater port on Kangaroo Island.

This port was proposed by Kangaroo Island Plantation Timbers, for whom former Liberal leader Iain Evans is a registered lobbyist.

The rivalry between the conservative Evans and moderate Chapman clans is infamous within Liberal circles and dates back to their fathers, Stan and Ted. Mr Iain Evans remains a key player within Adelaide Hills Liberal politics.

The ghosts of past Liberal warfare are rising and coming back to haunt Mr Marshall, delivering a nightmare run in to next March’s election. - Paul Starick