NSW Labor suffers setback in fight for upper house presidency after strategic ‘blunder’

The NSW Labor Party has suffered a setback in a fight for a powerful position after making a ‘massive miscalculation’.

The NSW opposition has suffered a setback in its quest to control a powerful position in parliament after making a strategic “blunder”, sources say.

Labor has been locked in a fight with the government over who should be president of the NSW upper house, in which the government doesn’t hold a majority.

The government declared Liberal MP Natasha Maclaren-Jones the winner last month, even though she failed to capture the majority in a series of votes.

Liberal MP Natasha Maclaren-Jones has been declared the winner by the government. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Bianca De Marchi

The government relied on legal advice from the Crown Solicitor and sent out a congratulatory email to reporters declaring Ms Maclaren-Jones the president.

Labor reacted with fury, calling the move “Trumpian”, saying it would await its own legal advice from top Sydney silk Bret Walker, who was approached by the clerk of the parliaments for his view.

But now it can be revealed that legal advice came back in the government’s favour in what a Labor source called a “big blunder” for the party.

Mr Walker’s opinion was understood to have validated the government’s view that Ms Maclaren-Jones was legitimately the winner even though she didn’t get a majority of votes from MPs.

The tactic of opposing the government’s candidate was based on a strategy devised by Labor’s upper house leader Adam Searle, who had convinced his caucus the rules would be on their side.

“It was a massive miscalculation,” the source said.

Mr Searle however said he was relying on advice from the clerk.

The opposition’s decision not to rubberstamp the government’s choice for upper house president has been described as unusual by NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian, who called it a “stunt” and said it was a longstanding tradition that the government gets to pick the upper house president.

Labor’s leader in the NSW upper house, Adam Searle, said it was a political question, not a legal one. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Damian Shaw

However unlike her predecessor as president, retired Liberal MP John Ajaka, Ms Maclaren-Jones does not enjoy bipartisan support in the upper house.

The lack of confidence in her on the opposite side would make it difficult for her to do an effective job, said Mr Searle, the Labor leader in the chamber.

“This is a political, not a legal issue,” he said.

“No one can or should become president on some legal technicality.”

He said he would like members to be given another chance to vote on who should be president now that the two sets of legal advice have become available.