As I write this, the “vultures” are reported to be circling Malcolm Turnbull, following the latest Newspoll that has seen his rating as preferred prime minister plunge from 41 per cent to 36 per cent. Names of other Liberal front-benchers - notably Julie Bishop or Peter Dutton – are being tossed about as possible replacements for the beleaguered Turnbull, and an atmosphere of crisis pervades the Coalition.
As if we need another leadership contest, or coup, at this time, having already seen five changeovers at The Lodge since 2007, three of them involving the unceremonious ousting of an elected prime minister. But the mainstream media, as we well know, thrives on leadership conjecture, and a new prime minister has barely settled into his (or her) seat at the despatch box before the white-anting begins.
Turnbull, of course, has brought much of the present speculation on himself, for having deposed the elected prime minister, Tony Abbott, using the latter’s poor standing in the polls as justification. This week’s news makes it 23 consecutive Newspolls in which the Coalition has trailed Labor. It’s hard to see, though, how another leadership change would manifestly improve the government’s fortunes.
Most of the perceived problems that have been preoccupying the government have been to do with issues or circumstances beyond its control. The corrosive and divisive same-sex marriage issue would have been settled long ago, had not Bill Shorten opposed the plebiscite that the government had originally wanted.
Financial measures aimed at beginning the urgent task of reining in the nation’s debt have run up against the stone wall of a hostile senate that cares little about the national interest. And now we have the MP eligibility mayhem unleashed by the citizenship fiasco and the subsequent High Court interpretation - an issue that came completely out of left field and has further yet to run.
Here I’m with Barnaby Joyce, who has called for proposed changes to the Constitution to be put to the people in a referendum held in conjunction with the next federal election. Australia, like the United States, is an immigrant nation and the nationalities of the parents or earlier forebears of people “born here” should be of no consequence, in relation to their eligibility for parliament. The most lamentable aspect of the whole citizenship debacle is its unwanted cost to the nation: High Court sittings involving briefings of top barristers, by-elections, and above all, the distraction it’s caused from the day-to-day business of running the country.
Unless the citizenship crisis forces an early election upon us, there is no need for the government to go to the polls before 2019. What’s needed in 2018 is a period of stability, and focus on policy, not personalities. Anyway, recent history tells us that even if the Libs dumped Turnbull tomorrow, there’s no guarantee that his successor would survive until the next election.
- Peter Austin
