Lucky The Australian has better journalists than Dennis Shanahan to cover politics. While Shanahan is playing echo chamber to the claims of “Liberal strategists” that this is a one-term Government, Greg Roberts has continued to explain just what an astonishing mess the Liberal-National merger is turning into for the Federal Liberals.
There are a number of Liberals, from Queensland and elsewhere, who have been astonished at the behaviour of the Nationals in recent weeks. There is widespread acceptance of the logic of some sort of merger with the Nationals, but a strong view that it should’ve occurred Federally, with States to follow, rather than being driven by the one state where the Nationals are stronger. But things have got worse in the last fortnight.
The sight of the West Australian Nationals seriously considering an alliance with Labor shocked many Liberals. How can you credibly argue for a merger of the Nationals and Liberals when a state division is contemplating hooking up with Labor in WA? Moreover, in response to the contrast between the WA result and the Lyne debacle, Nationals leader Warren Truss commented that they might think about having a more independent role.
And then earlier this week, professional maverick Barnaby Joyce became Nationals Senate leader. Will he tone down the independent act, or will it simply give him a bigger stage on which to perform, especially now that John Williams — preselected ahead of Sandy McDonald because they wanted someone more like Barnaby — has arrived from NSW?
More to the point, whose party is Joyce leading if the LNP becomes a division of the Liberal Party? Does he become a Liberal? Do he and his National colleagues get a right to vote in future leadership ballots? Brendan Nelson would walk back into the leadership if the Nats got a vote.
Meantime deeply unhappy Queensland Liberals are trying to have the merger overturned and prevent the new party becoming a division of the Liberal Party. There are virtually no Liberal officials actually in the LNP executive at this point. Liberal officials have been sacked and replaced by Nationals, and the latter dominate executive positions within the new party. Sources say only collaborationist Santo Santoro-allied Liberal Darryl Fennel has secured a place in the LNP’s executive structure, in addition to vice-president Gary Spence, another Santoro spear-carrier.
The merger is now not even a takeover — it’s a political slaughter. The Nationals have, in effect, destroyed the Liberal Party in Queensland and the “Liberal National Party” is simply a rebadged version of the Nats. This will play out not merely in Queensland state politics but in the Federal arena as well. It will be Nationals who select the candidates who will challenge Federal Labor members in 2010, and that will have a significant bearing on their chances of picking up seats. National Party ideas about what will shift voters from Kevin Rudd are likely to be very different to what Liberals want.
I am a Liberal/National suporter, and have been pushing for the amalgamation of conservative forces for many years now. There are issues with amalgamation, but the understanding of both sides of the argument, and the changing of the guard in the rural communities are changing this dynamic. The bush are not some straw sucking illitrates, many bussiness in the so called bush are multi million dollar enterprises, and that also includs the mining industry or course. the industry that is keeping Australia afloat at the moment.
If the Federal parties do not combine forces, they will delay the inevitable, and damage the potential of their younger supporter.
…and Joyce for girls?
Graham: I’m sorry to rain on your parade. However, your plea for the general public to understand the rural vote is not helped by your spelling or your grammar. “The bush are not some straw sucking illitrates.” The bush is singular Graham. So it would be The bush is not some straw sucking illitrates, which doesn’t make sense. How about. Bush people are not some, etc. Illitrates, should be spelled illiterates. Includs has an “e”. So you have failed to convince me that people in the Bush are in any way literate.
You surprise me when you are in favour of amalgamation of the Liberal/Country/National Party. Historically the amalgamation of two anythings, invariably ends with the stronger Party gaining total charge. Surely the National Party stands for Socialism for the farmers. Country Parties invariably want the rurals to get all the benefits of society, mass cooperation to aid the Party (farmers) at any price. Doubling, or trebling the rural vote, control of the rivers, the mining sector would need to donate millions of dollars to the rurals. Inter-city roads would expand and multiply across the nation. Every farmer would be entitled to have twelve tractors, even if the property is as small as Mark Vailes estate. Forty acres isn’t it? All wildlife would be slaughtered, because grain is far more important. Here I’m thinking of the swans which the Victorian government allowed to be shot, because shock, horror, dismay! The farmers have buggered up the river system, the swans get hungry, and hungry creatures of any species go looking for food. The thought of a National Party paradise is something even the Libs may find a bit rich. And these days you can’t go handing out knighthoods to any old hayseed (think Henry Bolte, yeah he liked to be thought of as such. But he was Country Party through and through), whose displeasure you have earned. I can’t say I wish you well, and the last time I heard anything was that the Libs in QLD were wishing there had been no amalgamation.
Barnaby Joyce is from the real world, and an accountant to boot. He is not a career politician. He knows very well and understands how things work on the ground. Furthermore he is very intelligent.
To the bookworms that have run the National Party for the last 20 years (and the ALP and Liberals for longer) the people on the ground are just statistics to be governed according to some theory or other that emanated from our incestuous academies.
The people who criticise Barnaby Joyce learned their prejudices from the same books as the career politicians did. It is Barnaby Joyce who is the sounder politician. The critics are wrong.
Furthermore, I predict that in about two years time we will find that Barnaby Joyce has put the previously out of fashion name Barnaby into the top twenty favourite names for baby boys.