For sheer political entertainment value, it’s hard to go past the
non-Labor parties in Queensland. When the Liberals and Nationals are
not fighting each other, they can each put on some fine internal
fireworks.

This week it’s the National Party’s turn, with the announcement that its Senate leader, Ron Boswell, intends to seek preselection
for a further Senate term at the 2007 election. He faces a strong
challenge from James Baker, who is allied with Boswell’s younger
media-friendly colleague, Barnaby Joyce.

As I have previously pointed out, the National Party’s share of the
Queensland non-Labor vote has been in free fall for about 20 years. In
2001, Boswell was narrowly elected with 9.2% of the vote – less than
two-thirds of a quota, or a little over a quarter of the Liberal vote.
Last year, Joyce just scraped in with about one sixth of the Liberal
vote.

If this decline continues, no Nationals’ candidate has a hope in 2007
(unless the Liberals are suicidal enough to agree to a joint ticket).
But with Joyce’s rush of publicity this year, they may reasonably hope
that a candidate in his mould and with his endorsement could reverse
the trend. Boswell, who has strongly criticised Joyce for crossing the
floor, doesn’t fit the bill.

In this morning’s Courier-Mail,
state deputy leader of the Nationals, Jeff Seeney, made his feelings
plain. “With the emergence of Barnaby and his perceived success, I
don’t think there’s much doubt that Ron’s days are numbered … people
would much rather that he retire gracefully.”

Clearly there is some support for that view among the younger
generation of Nationals. Boswell has just turned 65, so if he were
re-elected he would be 73 at the end of his next term. But given the
choice between that and a second Barnaby Joyce in the Senate, there’s
not much doubt about which the government would prefer.