By Jim McIntosh
Reports in The Age and other outlets reveal that senior National Party MPs are reeling with ‘dismay’ after a chaotic week in which their leader, David Littleproud, impulsively exited the Liberal-National coalition, only to scramble to undo his decision. To me, and surely many others, this political circus is utterly hilarious, though unsurprising given the Nationals’ inflated sense of their own importance. It’s like a petulant teenager storming out of home, only to crawl back, soaked and shivering, when independence proves too harsh. The drama is pure entertainment, exposing the party’s fragile ego and precarious standing.
These ‘senior MPs’ are mostly those holding shadow portfolios or aspiring to them, roles that offer better pay and prestige than the $230,000 base salary of backbenchers. Naturally, they’re dismayed. Exiting the coalition risks demoting them to obscurity alongside their sidelined colleagues, as the Liberals, taking the formal Opposition mantle, would monopolise all shadow ministry positions. At worst, it could condemn the Nationals to permanent irrelevance, a mere agrarian socialist rump languishing on the cross-benches – a prospect none of them savour. Even the least astute among them see the danger: a fractured party teetering on the edge of political oblivion.
This fiasco casts a harsh spotlight on Littleproud’s leadership. How long before he’s ousted, having spectacularly self-destructed? Does anyone beyond the party’s rural base even care? The Nationals’ influence is fading, their rural strongholds no longer enough to sustain their clout. In the broader political arena, they’re a sideshow – amusing but inconsequential. Their internal bickering and strategic blunders only underscore their struggle to stay relevant in a shifting landscape. For now, we can watch the chaos unfold, popcorn in hand, as they grapple with their self-inflicted wounds. Will they regroup, or continue this slow-motion implosion? Either way, their antics offer little more than a fleeting distraction from the real political game.
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Since it was pretty obvious that the coalition was not going to win this election, you would think that the Liberals and Nationals might have given some thought to the aftermath. It indicates that they are not very good at planning for future disasters, either their own or for the country.
Former National Party Leader Michael McCormack summed up the situation, when asked about Littleprods leadership, he adopted the fatal words used by Scott Morrison about Malcolm Turnbull days before Peter Dutton and Morrison shafted him :
He's my Leader.....I'm ambitious for him
simple go to katter, wilkie and one more to become the opposition
Little-to-be proud-of has comprehensively proven beyond any reasonable doubt that he personally is totally unfit for any public office. This backwoods representative, from a Queensland family of MDB water thieves during the 2019 worst drought in living memory, has allowed his over-blown self-important ego to overwhelm political common sense by seeking an exception from Cabinet solidarity for his diminishing band of millionaires made on the public purse.
Is the election of Littleproud by the widely dispersed property owners of SW Queensland in the Maranoa electorate a similar disaster to the US Trumpery disaster??
You know ….. my ego is bigger than my ability to understand what I am doing??
Certainly Michael McCormack is nearly smart enough to recognise a payback opportunity, while Beetrooter has never hidden his drunken desire to become NOtional$ ”leader” and so Acting Prim Monster again ….. perhaps his bit of fluff (Oops!! the second Mrs Beetroooter) aspires to a Kirribilli address as the ultimate success marker in Sydney journalism circles.
Then, lurking in the shadows is the harpy Sportsrorts McKenzie, whose nose may be out of joint because $us$san LeyZee ”leads” the LIARBRAL$ (until Tim Wilson works the numbers), and it may be time for the NOtional$ to put a toe into the late 19th century by graciously allowing a woman as ”leader” in these times of desperate shortage of suitably sober males. Necessary intelligence is going way too far in the NOtional$.
Perhaps NameYer Price, invited into the NOtional$ to make up the numbers, then eloping into the LIARBRAL$ does expose the Senate NOtional$ as a four member group of individual pollies, being fewer than the required five members required to be recognised as a ”party” eligible for administrative support from the voters.
Oops!! Real ”work” may be required!! Quick!! Quick!! Back into COALition!! We cannot use the word ”work” and ”NOtional$ politician” in the same sentence.
All in all, the Australian voters would be best served by the NOtional$ ”going it alone” into the future political irrelevance that they have been during the past 50+ years.
The split of the Liberal and National Party has demonstrated that they were not ready for government. Voters got it right as far as the major parties are concerned. Sussan Ley stated she wished to have a comprehensive assessment of the election result, the Nationals did not allow that to happen.
“Littleproud, impulsively exited the Liberal-National coalition, only to scramble to undo his decision.” Someone must have informed him how much his pay would drop if he was no longer Dep Coalition leader/Dep Opposition leader – but head of a small group on the cross bench sitting with the Teals…and a Greenie.
…then there is McKenzie, who read reports that her Senate position was now in danger if the Libs put forward one of their own in Victoria next election…And they said they were ready to Govern Australia for Australians. Just beautiful…