Will Shorten’s ‘scorched earth tactics’ end up burning him?

WHILE the citizenship debacle continues to plague parliament, the tactics used by Labor leader Bill Shorten are straight out of Napoleon’s playbook.

OPINION

IN LATE June 1812, at the height of the European summer, the French revolutionary turned emperor Napoleon Bonaparte was also at the height of his powers. Over the previous decade he had conquered virtually every nation and kingdom on the continent and was now occupied with various revolts and diplomatic squabbles.

One of these was with Russia, a great power which he had forced into submission in Eastern Europe just a few years earlier but which was now arcing up again. He thus decided to invade the world’s largest country, and on June 24 it began. Around 680,000 men marched east towards Moscow and a victory they assumed was theirs.

Less than six months later, almost half a million French soldiers were dead or captured and Napoleon had fled back to France. His reputation was smashed, his power was crippled and his army was destroyed.

And yet technically, he won.

Napoleon’s invasion of Russia is, of course, the stuff of legend. The once invincible military leader could not be defeated on the battlefield and so the Russians tried a different tack. Instead of engaging him in open warfare they kept retreating as his armies advanced into a vast, yawning expanse, torching villages, farms and fields as they withdrew. The French could have easily defeated the Tsar’s soldiers but they could not defeat their own starvation.

When they got to Moscow it was an empty, smouldering wreck. The Russians had evacuated the capital. Napoleon waited for someone to greet him as conqueror but nobody came.

There he was, emperor of all Europe, victor in the field, lord of all he surveyed, but ultimately he was just king of the s***heap. He returned to Paris a broken man.

PM Malcolm Turnbull has had a tough ride through the citizenship saga plaguing parliament. Picture: Kym Smith

Malcolm Turnbull is now celebrating a similar victory in the excruciating citizenship debacle that continues to decimate the federal parliament. And Bolshevik Bill Shorten has shown that he is more than adept at the ruthless scorched earth tactics that served Mother Russia so well.

It is increasingly obvious, were it not screamingly so already, that the dual citizenship debate is one entirely devoid of any logical or moral merit and has instead become a sort of political wildcard that can be used to vaporise MPs at random, regardless of their capacity or contribution to society.

It is patently absurd to suggest that an MP could be loyal to a foreign power when they have been completely oblivious to the fact they were a citizen of the foreign power they are supposed to be loyal to. And it is doubly stupid, if not at least exquisitely ironic, that in most cases this foreign power is the United Kingdom, which the Constitution assumed MPs were all subjects of in the first place.

At first, of course, it was all a bit of fun because it was assumed it was just a couple of Greens MPs who were too dumb to remember they’d been born in another country and too lazy to check their paperwork. Now it appears that foreign countries are just lazily claiming Australians as their own willy-nilly.

And frankly, who wouldn’t? After all, we did the same thing to Russell Crowe.

But what really puts the rocket up the right-thinking person is that even after the widely acknowledged realisation that this is manifestly outdated, misinterpreted and irrelevant, both sides of politics are now throwing it around like the hammer of Thor — even as they both protest that people want politicians to stop being so self-indulgent. It’s enough to make the average voter want to take that hammer and smash themselves in the face.

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has displayed ‘scorched earth tactics’ in the citizenship crisis. Picture: Kym Smith

It is now abundantly clear that despite its holier-than-thou indignation, Labor has been more than aware that a number of its MPs fall foul of Section 44. If Shorten’s office and party headquarters weren’t immediately briefed on any dual nationality doubts as soon as this scandal broke then I will eat my sombrero.

Labor’s strength has always been that it runs a tight ship. Yes, it might be full of dodgy bastards but at least it knows who those bastards are and what they have done. It’s no accident that the highest compliment you can give to a Labor operative is: “He knows where all the bodies are buried.”

It is worth noting that even among Labor MPs now embroiled in the citizenship saga, almost none are still dual citizens. Most moved to rescind their foreign citizenship before their election but it wasn’t confirmed until after the cut-off date.

Thus under the previous High Court precedent that talked about “reasonable steps” to renounce dual citizenship they no doubt assumed they’d be fine. But now, under the new much stricter ruling of you’re-either-a-dual-citizen-or-you’re-not, they’re probably screwed.

And that’s the problem with riding on a moral high horse. Sometimes it bucks.

Still, Labor doesn’t seem to care. Partly, this is because they have nothing to lose — at least not government.

Until now few people have even heard of the Labor MPs whose heads are on the chopping block and the first rule of chess is that you always sacrifice a rook to take a queen. Shorten is merely sacrificing pawns.

Indeed, as unlikeable as he remains as an alternative prime minister, Shorten has once again proven himself a master strategist against the genial but thumbsy Turnbull.

By exploiting every feature of this desolate national landscape, Labor has turned a parliamentary crisis for all MPs into a political crisis for the government.

Back in the House ... Barnaby Joyce was forced into a by-election after being found to hold New Zealand citizenship. AAP/Lukas Coch

After questionable tactics in concert with a New Zealand Labour MP — an ironic move in the name of national loyalty — it forced Barnaby Joyce back to the polling booth, not just taking out the Deputy PM and eliminating a vital vote in the House of Representatives but also sidelining the Coalition’s best retail politician and most powerful foil to the encroachment of One Nation and the like on its right flank.

And Labor blindsided the Liberals by blasting in Kristina Keneally as a surprise star candidate against John Alexander in the critical seat of Bennelong, which — once unthinkably for such a traditional blue ribbon seat — may twice in a decade determine the fate of a government.

Yet whether Keneally wins or not doesn’t really matter. As can be seen in her beaming campaign appearances, the joy is in the distraction. What matters is that, like Joyce, Alexander — that most unwilling bellwether — is lured into the net. They are bogged down in fights that even if they win, they lose.

Labor’s surprise star candidate for Bennelong Kristina Keneally on the campaign trail. Britta Campion/The Australian

This is Bill Shorten’s 1812 Overture and he is playing the Prime Minister like a violin. Labor didn’t create the citizenship crisis but it knows too well the infamous political mantra that you should never let a crisis go to waste.

And if that involves sacrificing a few pawns to get to checkmate then it’s even more of a no-brainer. Labor will cop a kick up the arse over its own fiasco, but it has already kicked the government square in the nuts.

Just like the Russians, it is prepared to burn a village to save the city, and burn the city to save the country. The only question is whether it will burn the whole house down in the process.