Liberals will make blundering Nationals pay for the chaos they’ve created
A LITTLE over a year ago the National Party was riding high after a strong election showing but its incompetence means the government has lost its working majority, Annika Smethurst writes.
Opinion
Don't miss out on the headlines from Opinion. Followed categories will be added to My News.
A LITTLE over a year ago the National Party was riding high after a strong election showing.
Defying a swing against the Liberals, the junior Coalition partner managed to pick up the seat of Murray, taking their number of MPs in the House of Representatives to 16.
The result also boosted their numbers on the frontbench from seven to nine and increased their representation at the cabinet table from four to five. It was the first time since the 1950s the Nationals — then the Country Party — had five members in cabinet.
A a year is a long time in politics.
Friday’s High Court decision saw the National Party lose two ministers — their leader Barnaby Joyce and Deputy Leader Fiona Nash.
Joyce will need to win a costly by-election on December 2 in order for Malcolm Turnbull to stay in The Lodge. The ruling has further fractured relationships between Liberals and Nationals as they fight over who should take Nash’s upper house seat.
The Liberals want factional player Hollie Hughes, who was next in line on the Liberal and National parties’ NSW Senate ticket. Of course the Nationals don’t want to lose a spot but the party has lost political capital by their sloppiness.
The Nationals’ incompetence means the government has lost its working majority and it will need to rely on the casting vote of Speaker Tony Smith.
The High Court decision has also inflamed divisions between the Nationals and Liberals over who should be in charge while Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull visits Israel, Vietnam and the Philippines in the next few weeks.
Yesterday Liberal MPs were openly blaming their Coalition colleagues for the chaos, insisting that they should not be rewarded for their ignorance.
Labor also has another High Court case pending against David Gillespie, the Assistant Health Minister and Nationals MP for the NSW seat of Lyne, which will be heard in December.
Gillespie could be booted out for an alleged pecuniary interest with the Commonwealth and further threaten the Turnbull government’s wafer-thin majority.
The only sliver of good news for the Nationals is the decision by Joyce’s political nemesis Tony Windsor, who came out of retirement to run against Joyce in 2016, not to run again in New England.
True to form, Windsor asked the High Court for a by-election in New England but then decided not to throw his hat in the ring.
It appears Windsor’s decisions to engage a high-powered legal team, including former federal court judge Ron Merkel and the former solicitor-general Justin Gleeson, was more of a political square-up. One source close to Windsor said he was never going to challenge Joyce, and just wanted to “f ... with Barnaby’s head”.
Taxpayers have even had to chip in some of the legal costs for Windsor’s political vendetta. Even if Windsor decided to run, Joyce was expected to hold on to his seat.
But Nationals MPs were increasingly worried about a dirty campaign following a series of personal attacks on social media by Windsor about Joyce’s private life.
Just because his name won’t appear on the ballot doesn’t mean he can’t continue to do damage from the sidelines.
In Canberra, Labor will seize on the government’s weakened position in the House of Representatives to cause havoc.
By ignorance or ineptitude, the Nationals have plunged the government into crisis.
Parliament will be characterised by divisions and disruptions until the Coalition restores its slim majority.