Punch-happy Labor fails to land a hit

PM Scott Morrison and Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton in Question Time in the House of Representatives chamber. Picture: Kym Smith

Labor’s first parliamentary outing against Scott Morrison was curiously flat, predictable and almost spoilt for choice.

Apart from an excess of ­muppetry, the new Prime Minister is proving difficult for Labor to pin down and the opposition is continuing to pursue its predetermined strategy to destabilise Home Affairs Minister Peter ­Dutton.

Labor is keener than ever to push the Coalition to an election as soon as possible and exploit the division and dysfunction within the Liberal Party, as well as a historically high advantage in the polls suggesting a landslide victory for Bill Shorten.

Hence, the ALP will continue to press the issue of whether Dutton’s eligibility to sit in parliament should go to the High Court because the Coalition is already relying on independent MPs for a working majority in the House of Representatives.

Coupled with the confusion created by Malcolm Turnbull’s resignation and a by-election in his seat of Wentworth, questioning the eligibility of Dutton is a Labor strategy to keep the ­Coalition off balance.

Labor had expected Dutton to take over from Turnbull and for months there have been ALP and Greens allegations of “scandals” and conflicts of interest directed at him.

Yesterday, Labor pulled a ­couple of parliamentary stunts to extend the chaos of the past couple of weeks for the Coalition, leading Christopher Pyne to declare they were “trying to blow up parliament” and stymie the stunts.

Yet palpably false claims and retractions of allegations against Dutton about his decision to intervene in visa matters for two au pairs have blunted the force of the campaign against him to the extent Labor has apologised for relying on faulty evidence and Centre Alliance independent Rebekha Sharkie has declared she will not support a no-confidence motion against the minister.

Labor’s campaign on Dutton’s eligibility to sit in parliament will continue but unlike Turnbull as prime minister who kicked the whole idea along, Morrison as Prime Minister is giving the idea no air.

A one-word “no” answer to the question of referral from Morrison, backed by a strong defence from Attorney-General Christian Porter, made it clear there would be solid resistance to any suggestion it go to the High Court.

The strength of Shorten’s first question to Morrison, as to “why” Turnbull was no longer prime minister, was that it couldn’t be answered by the leadership successor after a bloody challenge.

Saying it was a “good government that lost its way” or the leader had lost 30 Newspoll surveys in a row hasn’t worked in the past, and the truth that a majority of the party thought they were going to lose under Turnbull can’t leave Morrison’s lips.

Labor has the advantage now of unity and discipline but Shorten would be better off getting off the topic of leadership and on to the areas of power prices, border protection, drought, the economy, health and education — precisely where Morrison is heading.