Now let me
see….how did it all go down again?
There are
eighty-five parliamentarians in the federal party room representing the parliamentary arm of the Liberal Party of
Australia.
Leadership of
the party has been a political football since December 2009 when Tony Abbott ousted Malcolm Turnbull. Winning this leadership spill by one vote to become Opposition Leader.
Almost six
years later in September 2015 Turnbull returned the favour by replacing Abbott
as leader, when Abbott became a terminally toxic prime minister less than three
years into the job. Turnbull won that leadership spill by ten votes and became prime minister.
What followed
was over two years of relentless vindictive payback directed at Turnbull by Abbott and his
cronies.
Then Peter Dutton threw his hat in the ring on
21 August 2018. He lost this attempt to topple Turnbull and replace him as prime
minister when Turnbull called a leadership spill and Dutton lost the spill by
thirteen votes.
Another motion
to spill the leadership was passed by five votes on 24 August 2018.
This vote
effectively sacked Malcolm Turnbull as prime minister and the leadership contest
was then between Peter Dutton and Scott
Morrison.
Morrison became
the current (and very interim) prime minister on the back of just five votes that same day.
On 31 August 2018
Turnbull made good on his promise to resign from parliament and, a by-election
was called for the seat of Wentworth which had been held by conservative
politicians since its inception in 1901.
Scott
Morrison campaigned in the Wentworth electorate on behalf of his party’s
candidate, David Sharma.
On 20 October
2018 the Liberal Party lost the by-election to an Independent candidate Kerryn Phelps, with a swing against the
party of over 19 per cent.
The Morrison
Government is now a minority government, having lost its one seat margin in the
House of Representatives.
So who is the
Liberal Party blaming for their by-election defeat? Why it appears to be all Malcolm's fault.
The
Daily Telegraph, 24 October 2018:
PRIME Minister Scott
Morrison is “done with” Malcolm Turnbull and will no longer ask
the former leader to represent Australia at international conferences.
Senior Liberal sources
told The Daily Telegraph that while the PM would not rescind the decision to
send Mr Turnbull on official duties next week at a conference in Bali, it would
be the last request. “Scott has said to a number of senior Liberals that he doesn’t
want anything further to do with Malcolm,” the source said….
In September, Mr
Morrison asked Mr Turnbull to represent the Australian Government at the ‘Our
Ocean Legacy’ conference in Bali next week — a decision that has been met with
a backlash from Liberal and National MPs after the former Prime Minister did
not even send a tweet backing the Liberal Party in the by-election caused by
his resignation…..
The pair had been
communicating regularly over WhatsApp prior to Mr Turnbull’s decision to reject
Mr Morrison’s request to help Liberal Party candidate Dave Sharma campaign
against independent Dr Kerryn Phelps in Wentworth.
Mr Turnbull, who told
journalists yesterday he was “out of partisan politics”, was initially invited
to attend the conference by the Indonesian Government in March when still prime
minister.
After the August
leadership spill, Mr Morrison said he was unable to attend the conference, so
asked Mr Turnbull to still go. It was understood to be an “olive branch”
extended to the former leader.
All of Mr Turnbull’s
travel and accommodation costs will be covered by taxpayers during the trip.
“I did request the
former prime minister to represent us at that conference, and he’ll be there
representing the policies of our government,” Mr Morrison said yesterday.
His office later issued
a statement denying that Mr Turnbull had been banned from representing
Australia at such events, adding that Mr Morrison “will be seeking to maintain
a positive relationship with the former PM as he would do with any other former
PMs”.
“Mr Morrison rejects the
suggestion made to the Telegraph,” the statement said. “The decision to invite
Mr Turnbull to represent Australia was initiated eight weeks ago after direct
discussion with President Widodo of Indonesia and was well received by the
President.” However, Nationals MP and former deputy prime minister Barnaby
Joyce said Mr Turnbull may be “sulking” after losing the leadership and should
not represent Australia at the conference, especially given his refusal to
campaign in Wentworth.
“It is a problem and
there should have been a bit more thought put into this” Mr Joyce said. “I
think he’s angry about losing his job — one can only presume some sulking. I
suggest that probably gives us a very good reason not to send him to Bali.”
The
Wentworth by-election has still not been officially declared, with the Australian
Electoral Commission still counting postal votes yesterday. Dr Phelps’ lead
dropped by 74 votes to 1552 as Mr Sharma secured 55 per cent of the postal
votes counted yesterday. He needed upward of 70 per cent to dent the margin.
Mr Morrison defended the
pending result, saying that while the Liberal vote in the eastern suburbs seat
dropped by about a third so did the Labor and Greens vote.
Fronting the Coalition
party room for the first time since Saturday’s by-election, Mr Morrison hit
back at calls from moderates in the party for action on climate change and the
urgent removal of refugees from Nauru.
“We’re not shifting to
the left or the right — it’s not hokey pokey politics,” he told the closed door
meeting.
“We will continue to be
a strong centre-right government with strong centre-right parties focusing on
the things that matter.” Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack, whose
leadership has been under pressure from renegade Nationals, urged MPs not to
be “spooked” by the result in the once-safe Liberal seat.“What they think in Double
Bay is not what they think in Dubbo,” Mr McCormack said.
One political
thumbnail draws attention to what Morrison & Co were loathe to mention during their public blame gaming.
The
Sydney Morning Herald,
24 October 2018:
By the way, Malcolm was
in a no-win position – if he had campaigned he would have been accused of being
disruptive and a distraction - of crowding out Sharma.
Morrison wanted his
letter of support but wouldn’t allow Turnbull to mention the circumstances of
his demise, so, no go.
Next, move on to
Morrison’s horror personal contributions to the campaign – the lingering image
of him hugging
a lump of coal; his defence of advertising on the
sails of the Opera House, wanting to see not just horse racing but also car
racing; his mishandling of the issues of funding and independence of the ABC
generated by the
dismissal of chief executive Michelle Guthrie; his multiple positions on
the treatment
of gay students and teachers; the white supremacist/neo-Nazi parliamentary
vote; announcing the possible shift of our
embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem (even after most devout
Jews in the electorate would have already pre-voted, to avoid having to do so
on the Sabbath); the possible rejuvenation of a New Zealand deal on
refugee resettlement; and then, finally, the assertion that a Kerryn Phelps
win meant “instability”, conveniently ignoring the instability in his own party
that had resulted in the byelection in the first place.
All this shooting from
the hip, attempting to spin the issue, assuming some resonance with some
identified constituency, only compounds the electoral cynicism and mistrust. So
much for the new, marketing/PR-type jockey - so much for Morrison's skills as a
retail politician. Clever sound bites and stunts have a limited life. Voters
want authenticity, substance and outcomes. This was a clear message from
Wentworth.
Morrison’s calamitous
performance wasn’t helped by Barnaby Joyce’s
grubby attempt to rekindle his leadership ambitions, nor by Environment
Minister Melissa
Price insulting former Kiribati President Anote Tong.
Apart from denying any
responsibility for all this mess, the most disturbing aspect of the
government’s response to the Wentworth result has been its failure to recognise
the significance of issues that dominated the campaign, such as climate change....
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