Laurie Oakes: The Coalition has lost touch with common sense

SAME-SEX marriage is inevitable in Australia, writes Laurie Oakes. So what is the point of the Coalition risking loss of office over it?

Malcolm Turnbull’s authority is eroding before our eyes. Picture: AAP/Richard Wainwright

HOW did the federal Government get itself into such a mess over same-sex marriage? It is a mess that is tearing the Coalition apart and threatens to bring about another Liberal leadership crisis.

There are MPs talking of crossing the floor. Accusations of treachery have been made. Pre-selections are being threatened. Malcolm Turnbull’s authority is eroding before our eyes.

The Nationals are angry at the Liberals. There’s even concern that one or two MPs could quit the Coalition and sit on the crossbenches.

And for what? The public made up its mind long ago. A majority favours a change in the law to allow gay couples to marry and just wants the matter dealt with and out of the way.

Even Liberal MPs pushing for a Parliamentary conscience vote concede it is a second-order issue and voters have much bigger concerns.

That is borne out by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s frequent assertions that no one asks him about the matter.

So why is the Coalition apparently prepared to die in a ditch over it?

Because the modern Liberal Party suffers from the same ailment that made Labor unelectable for much of the 1950s and ’60s.

The same-sex marriage divorce happening behind the Coalition’s closed doors.

Back then Labor’s hard line left was preoccupied with internal brawling, more interested in fighting the right than winning office.

Now it’s the Liberal hard line right that puts internal power struggles with the moderate wing of that party ahead of retaining government.

You see it in the Abbott versus Turnbull revenge-athon. You see it in the bitter climate change argument. And you see it in the same-sex marriage row.

I doubt Bill Shorten can believe his luck. The Labor leader saw a chance to wedge the Coalition over the issue and the Coalition obliged.

The news that really mattered over the past week concerned terrorism, and specifically a plot to bring down a commercial airliner flying out of Sydney.

Turnbull behaved as a Prime Minister should, working closely with security agencies while keeping the community informed about the threat and precautions being taken.

Make no mistake, this was real. Cynics suggesting Turnbull was exploiting the situation for political advantage could not be more wrong.

Yet the Coalition parties seemed far more interested in brawling and backbiting over marriage equality.

The country faced a serious situation, but Liberal and National MPs were talking about themselves. As usual.

Does anyone imagine the punters were impressed?

Coalition MPs know voters are sick of the navel-gazing. Their own focus group research makes that crystal clear.

People want politicians to focus on things that directly affect them and their families. Cost of living issues. Employment. Housing. Health. National security.

Same-sex marriage is not something that keeps voters awake at night. Yet the Coalition seems obsessed by it.

The stark truth about same-sex marriage is that it is going to be legalised eventually.

What is happening in other countries will happen here, too. Everyone knows it. The only question is when.

In 2015, when Tony Abbott manipulated the Coalition party room into accepting there should be a plebiscite on same-sex marriage before there could be legislation, it was all about delay. The way the Australian Christian Lobby put it was “kicking the issue into the long grass”.

Turnbull, who was stalking Abbott for the leadership at the time, complained that this would ensure the issue continued to overshadow the government’s messages on such key issues as economic growth, jobs, industrial relations and innovation.

Now that he has inherited the Abbott policy of insisting on a plebiscite ahead of a free parliamentary vote, Turnbull is discovering how right he was.

So what is the point of the Coalition risking loss of office — possibly even guaranteeing it — when it knows the most it can achieve is delay?

Frustrated moderates point that out, but the right doesn’t care and the Nationals are spooked by One Nation. Common sense does not get a look in.

Somehow Turnbull needs to hose it all down at a special party meeting on Monday.

That is a task requiring stronger and more effective leadership than he has shown so far as Prime Minister.

Laurie Oakes is the Nine Network political editor