Did Kim Beazley’s volte-face on voluntary student unionism open the door for the sale of Telstra?

Consider the timetable. The Bomber’s announcement came out Wednesday morning. While Education Minister Brendan Nelson and, er, former right wing Labor student activist Tony Abbott said the service charge proposals were unacceptable or back door compulsory student unionism, that afternoon Joyce was claiming he had forced Beazley’s hand.

“I think the National Party has carved out two extremely large deals in the last three weeks,” AAP had him saying. “The first one is the deal we carved out on Telstra and the second one is getting Kim Beazley to change his position on compulsory unionism. It’s good to see that after 100 years or so he’s decided that compulsory unionism is finished.”

Joyce knows his appeal is based on protest voting. He has to play the maverick. Cave in on one issue and he has to make a stand on another. So no wonder he was so pleased by Beazley’s proposal, given his own VSU stance.

On Wednesday night, we’re told, Queensland Nationals state president Bruce Scott called Joyce to say the “overwhelming feeling of the management committee of the Nationals was to support the sale,”and Joyce gave his qualified yes to the sale on AM the following morning.

An attempt at wedge politics from the Bomber that backfired? Well, ask yourself what is the bigger issue out there in RARAland – your communications service or a bunch of bloody students?