Liberal MPs elect Andrew Wallace as Government’s nomination for Speaker of the House to replace Tony Smith

Liberal MPs have elected Queensland MP Andrew Wallace as the Government’s nomination for Speaker of the House to replace Tony Smith.

Andrew Wallace during Question Time in the House of Representatives in Parliament House Canberra. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

Liberal MPs have elected Queensland MP, Andrew Wallace, as the Government’s nomination for Speaker of the House to replace the outgoing Tony Smith.

In a virtual ballot the Liberal MPs voted for the Sunshine Coast MP over the retiring former Howard-Government MInister Kevin Andrews.

There has to be a ballot in the House of Representatives when Parliament sits today to confirm who the Speaker will be.

Labor has raised the possibility of running a “rogue” candidate in a bid to use the Opposition’s numbers with independent MPs to defeat the Government’s nomination and foment more parliamentary uncertainty after Coalition senators crossed the floor to support Pauline Hanson’s push against mandatory Covid-19 vaccinations.

Even as all sides of politics praised the fairness and balance of outgoing Speaker Tony Smith, who resigns on Tuesday, the opposition threatened to repeat its parliamentary defeat of the Morrison government’s preferred replacement.

With only two parliamentary sitting weeks left this year, and potentially none next year before the election, and Coalition senators voting against the government and resignations reducing the Morrison government to a minority, the appointment of a Speaker has assumed even greater importance.

The Coalition, Labor and even Greens leader Adam Bandt have identified the procedural and political problems the government faces if Smith’s preparedness to rein in Liberal MPs and ministers, including Scott Morrison, is not adopted by the new Speaker.

Smith’s decision to return to the backbench before he retires at the next election has triggered an outpouring of support for his unbiased control of the House of Representatives.

The Prime Minister declared him the “finest Speaker” of the house who had “given a fair go to all sides”. Anthony Albanese said Smith’s lack of partisanship created “an expectation” for the next Speaker in the “interests of the whole parliament”. The Labor leader made a political point, saying “a good Speaker helps the government of the day because it’s about order”.

Tony Burke, the manager of opposition business, said in the same circumstances in 1998 of a Speaker retiring six months before an election and taking up an overseas post, John Howard backed former Nationals leader and minister Ian Sinclair for the Speaker’s role. Burke said Howard had appointed the retiring Sinclair as Speaker as a “mark of respect for the Nationals” and alluded to his own successful nomination of rogue Nationals MP Llew O’Brien as Deputy Speaker in a humiliating defeat for the government’s own nominee.

After more than a year of heavily restricted parliamentary sittings, reduced numbers of MPs, state lockdowns, quarantine and virtual attendance, there will be great pressure on the new Speaker to control the growing tension as the election nears.

Outgoing Speaker Tony Smith after Question Time in the House of Representatives in Parliament House Canberra. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

If Labor succeeded in getting an MP, such as O’Brien, elected as Speaker, it would be a further blow for Coalition MPs’ morale and would threaten to create an atmosphere of government uncertainty and division. If the house turns into chaos under a new Speaker, it always turns against the government.

The election of former Liberal MP turned independent Peter Slipper as Speaker to bolster the numbers for the minority Gillard Labor government turned into a political disaster and contributed to the downfall of Julia Gillard as prime minister.

Then opposition leader Tony Abbott and manager of opposition business Christopher Pyne were able to create parliamentary chaos and disruption with devastating political impact on Labor’s minority government.