Scott Morrison chasing lonely hearts link-up

Like an appeal to a lonely hearts dating site Scott Morrison has sent out an all-points bulletin “looking for partners” for the Coalition in a brave new relationship for 2017. Falling short of Tony Abbott’s appeal for opposition MPs and maverick senators to join “team Australia”, the Treasurer has just asked crossbench senators who hold the balance of power “to join”.

That is, to join the Coalition in adopting negotiating principles in the Senate for next year that are not just ad hoc horsetrading but based on common objectives for the good of the nation.

Sure, the Turnbull government got some vital legislation through the Senate but the results were of questionable merit and the process was politically messy and destabilising.

Facing the shock of a quarter of negative growth and the inevitable speculation the economy has started down the road to recession, Morrison is ­trying to reset the ground rules so that Nick Xenophon, Pauline Hanson, David Leyonhjelm and Derryn Hinch can approach negotiations for the grand tax enterprise with at least some principles in common.

In contrast to the budget achievements so far, the $50 billion in company tax cuts is a vast endeavour facing implacable opposition from the ALP and the Greens.

Negative economic growth in the September quarter is, Morrison says, not a wake-up call and not a warning but a demand for “support in the national interest for the government’s national economic plan for jobs and growth”.

Morrison is trying to turn the worst economic news since the global financial crisis into a way of blaming Labor obstruction and appealing to the crossbenchers for a more coherent approach to legislative bargaining next year.

“We’re looking for partners in this parliament who want to go on that journey with us so we can set up the next 25 years of growth, and today’s data says it’s time to join the national economic plan for jobs and growth,” Morrison said yesterday.

He wants partners who “won’t be playing political games”, partners who will still horse trade across legislative areas but who start with common principles aimed at improving the economy.

Perhaps after a few months of practice and the spectre of recession, some of the independent senators will decide at least to go on a first date with the Treasurer.