Banks’ argy-bargy sinks Frydenberg’s Buenos Aires visit

Josh Frydenberg has been forced to abandon a trip to the G20 summit in Argentina following the defection of Julia Banks.

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg. Picture: AAP

Josh Frydenberg has been forced to abandon a trip to the G20 summit in Argentina as the government struggles to reassert control over the parliament following the defection of Victorian Liberal Julia Banks to the crossbench.

The Treasurer yesterday said he would stay in Australia to focus on domestic issues amid signs of a showdown between the major parties on the referral of MPs to the High Court over their eligibility to sit in the chamber under section 44 of the Constitution.

As Ms Banks sat on the crossbench with fellow independents in question time yesterday, Minister for Women Kelly O’Dwyer sparked uproar by declaring the Morrison government was “the natural government for Aus­tralian women”.

“We represent their hopes and aspirations,” Ms O’Dwyer said, just days after telling Victorian colleagues that voters saw the Liberal Party as “homophobic, anti-women, climate-change deniers”.

Scott Morrison yesterday said he’d had no prior warning of Ms Banks’s defection, amid reports crossbenchers had known for weeks she was planning the move.

The Prime Minister said ­Coalition MPs were “dis­appointed” with Ms Banks’s move to the crossbench but the government was focused on keeping Labor out of government.

“All of our colleagues were disappointed,” Mr Morrison told radio 2GB’s Alan Jones.

“But we’re not going to stop Bill Shorten becoming prime minister by sitting around being dis­appointed. We’re going to stop him by actually getting out there and prosecuting the case.”

The Prime Minister will leave for Buenos Aires after question time today but the Treasurer was forced to cancel his trip to the summit of the world’s most powerful economies to ward off any challenges to the government’s authority in the parliament.

Opposition Treasury spokesman Chris Bowen said Mr Frydenberg’s decision to skip the summit was a “missed opportunity” reflecting a government in chaos.

“More involvement in the G20, not less, is vital to further Aus­tralia’s economic interests and co-operation with the world’s largest economies,” Mr Bowen said.

Earlier this month, Mr Frydenberg told CNBC he would urge G20 economies to ensure “cool heads” prevailed to prevent a worsening of trade tensions between the US and China, but yesterday he suggested he was not needed at the meeting.

“It’s a leaders’ meeting. The treasurers and the finance ministers were at the recent meeting in Bali,” he said.