Paul Starick: Labor has wrought chaos with its Vickie Chapman no-confidence motion – but a stalemate looms

SA’s parliament faces an unprecedented political problem – an Attorney-General who, tradition dictates, should resign, and a Premier who backs her 100 per cent, writes Paul Starick.

The long-expected humiliation for Deputy Premier Vickie Chapman was a predetermined political stitch-up that had sufficient foundation to drive a stake into the heart of the Marshall government.

The no-confidence motion against Ms Chapman succeeded because Labor garnered support from two former Liberals, Troy Bell and Sam Duluk.

Even if another former Liberal crossbencher, Fraser Ellis, had not abstained and instead tied the vote, Speaker Dan Cregan likely would have deployed his casting vote to sink Ms Chapman.

There is huge enmity against Ms Chapman, including within the Liberal Party – from conservatives bitterly opposed to the Moderate faction she helps lead. Some of these enemies are prepared to jeopardise the Liberal government’s future by knifing Ms Chapman.

This longstanding hostility might have fuelled the no-confidence motion but the issue of conflict of interest had sufficient basis to provide Ms Chapman’s enemies with the cover they craved.

Deputy Premier Vickie Chapman during question time earlier his week. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Brenton Edwards

Even some of Ms Chapman’s most ardent supporters must be wondering why she didn’t delegate the decision over whether to approve a Kangaroo Island port for a timber enterprise that had a contracted forest across the road from a house she own-ed. This would have been the politically pragmatic decision.

An Ombudsman’s inquiry will be more independent than the parliamentary committee – the results and outcome of which was predicted by this columnist on October 15. It also carries a much bigger potential sting.

The Liberals had pyrrhic victories by successfully gathering the numbers to seize back powers to set parliamentary sittings from Speaker Dan Cregan and removing Premier Steven Marshall from the no-confidence motion. But they lost a bid to shut down parliament until after the election, meaning it will resume on November 30.

Ms Chapman, as also predicted previously, is likely to be suspended by the house for the remainder of sittings until the March 19 election. This creates more potential for Labor and its independent allies to wreak havoc on the Marshall government.

As predicted, an unprecedented constitutional imbroglio has now been unleashed, because Speaker Dan Cregan will now demand Governor Frances Adamson fire Ms Chapman from the ministry.

But she acts on Premier Steven Marshall’s advice and he is 100 per cent behind his deputy. There is now an impasse that is likely to be resolved only at the election.