The very thing many Australians love about Jacqui Lambie – her shoot-from-the-hip, take-no-prisoners approach – has left her new Tassie political force in ruins.
Metaphorical bomb throwing is fine as a solo Senate crossbencher seeking re-election.
However, it simply doesn’t work for a state party trying against the odds – and in the best interests of Tasmanians – to hold together a fractured hung parliament, amid a fiscal crisis.
Having already lost senator Tammy Tyrrell, Lambie now appears to have now blown up her state team. Demanding the scalp of a state minister is one thing; threatening to tear up a confidence-and-supply deal – signed only four months earlier – unless he is sacked is quite another. And to do both, as is alleged, without consulting the MPs whose signatures appear on that deal appears to add astonishing oversight to significant overreach.
Michael Ferguson’s failure to ensure two new passenger ferries have an adequate wharf for their arrival – after years of cost and time overruns on the ferries themselves – points to incompetence. Government businesses may have done some or all of the bungling, but the buck stops with the shareholder minister. However, his fate is for the Premier, parliament and, ultimately, Tasmanians to decide; not the purview of a sole belligerent senator.
The JLN MPs have struggled with Lambie’s interference from day one. Two of them – Miriam Beswick and Rebekah Pentland – are understood to have simply had enough, believing the situation is unworkable. All three MPs have run businesses and are aware of the need for political stability to foster investment. They want to hold the government to account; not blow it up.
The third JLN MP, Andrew Jenner, is understood to remain close to Lambie and keen to keep the band together. However, that would take a Nobel Peace Prize-winning effort from this point.
The estranged state MPs and their founding senator are like a couple in a loveless relationship. Both know it’s over, but neither wants to be the first to admit it.
It would be in the best interests of stability for there to be quickie divorce, before parliament resumes on September 10, to allow fresh discussions on supply and confidence.
Then Tasmanians can only hope the focus shifts to the budget crisis threatening the future viability of their island state, not to mention struggling hospitals, failing schools and inadequate housing.
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