Annika Smethurst: How Liberals lost all discipline and their credibility
A TEST as crucial as yesterday’s by-election in Wentworth should have prompted unyielding discipline from the Coalition, Annika Smethurst writes.
Opinion
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A TEST as crucial as yesterday’s by-election in Wentworth should have prompted unyielding discipline from the Coalition.
From the moment Malcolm Turnbull left Parliament House for the final time eight weeks ago, Coalition members knew that the Liberal Party had no choice but to fight to hold on to the inner-Sydney seat.
It’s an electorate that has been held by the Liberal Party since its inception in 1944.
Before that, the conservative party of the day alway represented the affluent inner-Sydney seat, which takes in the up-market suburbs of Double Bay, Point Piper and Vaucluse.
MPs knew a loss in Wentworth would mean the Coalition would lose its one-seat majority in the House of Representatives. Governing would be doable, but it would be a lot tougher.
Ruling in a minority means your buffer is abolished and no member of the Coalition can miss a vote.
While Julia Gillard’s government managed to execute a considerable legislative program in minority, it was dogged by chaos and could never escape its perceptions of illegitimacy.
Alarmingly, a loss in Wentworth also meant wealthy constituents, who the Liberals have come to depend on for support, no longer conform to the popular stereotype. As one MP put it: “If they can’t get people in Vaucluse to vote Liberal, who the hell will?”
Under such immense pressure, you’d think government MPs would submit to some sort of collective discipline in order to give themselves the best chance.
Instead, they crumbled. Like troops in retreat it seems almost impossible for the government to preserve any discipline in the lead-up to polling day. With a federal election due before May, this should be a warning to Coalition MPs that there is no longer room for mistakes.
First there was the inevitable leak of part of the Ruddock report on religious freedom, which recommended retaining the power for religious schools to kick out gay students. Scott Morrison spent two days refusing to comment on whether it was acceptable before deciding it definitely wasn’t.
Then there was a monumental cock-up in the Senate when the Coalition voted in favour of a motion by One Nation’s Pauline Hanson which borrowed the white supremacist slogan, it’s “OK to be white”. We were told it was an administrative error.
Attorney-General Christian Porter pushed his staff under the bus. Or perhaps it’s too much to ask that the 226 politicians, who we pay more than $200,000 a year to vote on our behalf, know what they are voting for.
The government finally thought it had backed a winner by declaring it was “open” to moving the Australia’s embassy in Israel. It was meant to be an election “sweetener” to shore up the Jewish vote in Wentworth, estimated to be about 13 per cent.
Unsurprising the Indonesians weren’t too happy with our foreign policy shift.
Newly minted Environment Minister Melissa Price did her part to fuel chaos when she had a crack at the former Kiribati leader Anote Tong during a chance encounter at a Canberra restaurant. While Price can’t recall the details, it appears the chance to stoke tensions in the Pacific was too tempting for Price who suggested our regional neighbours only visit Canberra “for the cash”.
Just when the Liberals’ Wentworth candidate Dave Sharma didn’t think it could get any worse, the National Party became consumed by talk of a leadership spill. Bringing disgraced former leader Barnaby Joyce back to the Cabinet table to join the drama almost seems fitting.
But the ramifications of the chaos in federal Parliament last week extend beyond the Wentworth poll result, which was looking like a win for Kerryn Phelps.
Scott Morrison is still the Prime Minister and the Coalition is still in government.
But the Liberals remain on track for an election wipe-out and have proven they are incapable of uniting in the face of defeat.
The Coalition should be spooked about what this lack of unity could mean at the next general election.
Compared to the Bennelong by-election last December, the Liberal Party struggled to get the numbers to man their booths in Wentworth yesterday. Only a handful of ministers spent the day campaigning in the seat, despite what was at stake.
Morrison’s only hope to win the next election is to learn from these mistakes — and pray that he faces off against Bill Shorten who continues to trail as preferred prime minister.