Damian Drum losing prime spot to Llew O’Brien is bad news for the government
A ballot between two warring bush MPs for the position of Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives may sound like a giant yawn — but the outcome has big ramifications for the federal government, writes Annika Smethurst.
Opinion
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If the “Canberra bubble” describes the machinations that excite pollies and journos but bore punters, then this was it.
A ballot between two warring bush MPs for the position of Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives which the government’s candidate lost.
I can already feel your eyes looking away. I don’t blame you.
Outside the bubble, in “punterland”, it made little difference whether the Queensland copper Llew O’Brien or former footy coach Damian Drum got the chocolates.
Scott Morrison knows the power of dismissing this contest as just the goings-on in Canberra. While this might work as a grab on the nightly TV news, the government ignores this humiliating loss at its peril.
On Monday, when the government failed to muster the numbers to elect its preferred candidate in Drum, it exposed the Coalition’s tenuous grip on power.
It also revealed the lengths rebel National MPs will go to in order to hurt the government.
As if it needed reminding.
Despite a challenge by Barnaby Joyce the week before — and repeated warnings of revenge after he lost — the government was blindsided.
O’Brien was the third pick for the job under a masterful plan hatched by Labor’s chief tactician Tony Burke.
Perhaps it was Labor’s track record of division that allowed Burke to see what the government could not. He knew that disengaged Nationals were still seething about missing out on frontbench roles and would seek revenge.
Labor leader Anthony Albanese also saw an opportunity.
He may have adopted the persona an everyday bloke with working-class roots, but Albo is one of the Parliament’s smartest tacticians.
There is a temptation to see parliamentary procedure as the epitome of the Canberra bubble.
But the government will pay a heavy price if it chooses to do so.