THE JOKE’S ON US
As everyday Aussies battle crippling cost-of-living expenses and traffic gridlock, these bozos are holding the country hostage
THE third stage of the light rail, M1 congestion, soaring power prices and market and business uncertainty should be top of the agenda but have been sidelined by the carnival antics of self-indulgent Liberal Party politicians in Canberra. Mayor Tom Tate last night warned it was “bad for the country — full stop”. “Business hates uncertainty, the share market hates uncertainty and Aussie families don’t elect their leaders to engage in this behaviour.” Readers slammed the pollies for being a “worldwide joke” and told them to “just take a number and take turns” at being PM. The Canberra circus will continue today with Julie Bishop, Scott Morrison, Malcolm Turnbull and Peter Dutton vying for the top job.
THIS circus must end – that’s the message from Gold Coast business and civic leaders to the federal Coalition ahead of today’s leadership spill.
The implosion of the Turnbull Government is expected to come to a head at a noon party room meeting which could see Australia get its seventh Prime Minister in 11 years.
Treasurer Scott Morrison, Foreign minister Julie Bishop and former Home Affairs minister Peter Dutton are all expected to be contenders.
Farce enveloped Canberra yesterday when parliament was adjourned until September 10 and Mr Turnbull desperately tried to cling to office despite losing the support of most of his party.
Senior party sources who had hoped the leadership question could be solved quickly yesterday were fuming that Mr Turnbull blamed Mr Dutton for the long adjournment. They said the challenger had in fact only wanted the adjournment to last until Question Time at 2pm, allowing the spill to take place in the meantime.
But Mr Turnbull insisted he would not call a party room meeting until a petition of MPs demanding it had 43 signatures – a number that Mr Dutton’s supporters claimed would be reached last night.
The Gold Coast is a blue ribbon conservative stronghold but some of the city’s most powerful figures say enough is enough. Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate, a long-serving LNP member, urged decisionmakers to end the destructive infighting.
“What is playing out in Canberra is bad for the country – full stop,” he said last night.
“Business hates uncertainty, the share market hates uncertainty and Aussie families don’t elect their leaders to engage in this behaviour.
“I won’t let the Gold Coast suffer so I will be straight on the phone to whoever the Prime Minister is, reminding them that we have a light rail
system that needs further funding support, and that we are the epicentre of Australian tourism.”
Cr Tate urged the candidates for the Liberal Party leadership to keep the city and its tourism industry in mind.
“If I sense there’s any wavering, I’ll be straight on a plane to Canberra to ensure they get my message,’’ he said.
The Gold Coast’s five MPs went to ground yesterday as the leadership chaos consumed
the government.
All but Fadden MP Stuart Robert voted for Mr Dutton in this week’s first leadership spill.
Moncrieff MP Steven Ciobo yesterday resigned as Trade, Tourism and Investment Minister and went to the backbench.
“Regrettably, it is clear to me the Prime Minister has lost the support of the Party Room and it is critical the leadership is resolved,” he tweeted.
Forde MP Bert van Manen
– who had supported Peter Dutton in the initial party room vote – would not respond to requests for comment.
His office insisted Mr van Manen was too preoccupied with “business-as-usual meetings”.
He later tweeted: “In spite of the distractions it’s business as usual for me today in Canberra hosting visitors including a great adventure for students and staff from Beenleigh’s Carbrook State School”.
McPherson MP Karen Andrews, who also is believed to have supported Mr Dutton, confirmed last night she had signed a petition calling for a leadership spill.
“What I think is import is the party meeting goes ahead and we resolve this,” she told ABC radio late yesterday.
“I don’t think this is good at all for Australia, we should be very focused on policy and achieving what we need to in the best interest of Australia so that is why I want to see it resolved.”
Ms Andrews refused to reveal who she voted for earlier this week and said she had yet to decide who she would vote for today.
Member for Wright Scott Buchholz, who is also believed to have supported Dutton was also unavailable, as was Fadden MP Mr Robert.
Gold Coast North Chamber of Commerce president Martin Brady said the business community needed certainty from the nation’s leaders.
“It is no secret we are looking for certainty and having seven prime ministers in 11 years is far from that,” Mr Brady said said.
“We are concerned about the international reputational damage this is inflicting.
“I would hope the local politics would be supporting Gold Coast projects like the light rail going forward regardless of who is in charge.”
IF political self interest paid dividends for voters, the Gold Coast would be swimming in benefits. But it doesn’t and the debacle unfolding in Canberra as the Liberal Party tears itself apart can only deliver the following for the Gold Coast – zilch.
No matter who wins the struggle for the party leadership and, assuming there is a party room meeting and Malcolm Turnbull steps down and a vote puts Peter Dutton, Scott Morrison or someone from right field into the office of prime minister, our city stands to lose out again. The Gold Coast might be a blue-dyed in the wool stronghold for conservative federal MPs, but it is that solid voter support that is the city’s biggest problem in forcing Canberra to take the tourism capital seriously.
We’re constantly overlooked because the conservatives enjoy such comfortable margins here. We concede Mr Turnbull ensured the federal funding needed to link the trams with heavy rail at Helensvale in time for the Commonwealth Games; and that Mr Turnbull put up $1 billion to break the standoff with the State Government over funding the M1 upgrades.
It has been great to have had Moncrieff MP Steven Ciobo as trade, tourism and investment minister in the Cabinet, until he resigned his portfolios. He was instrumental in securing the vital film industry incentive funding. But why have there been no moves to bring Tourism Australia headquarters to the city that proudly proclaims itself as the tourism capital? Why aren’t there tourism bureaucrats based here?
Mr Turnbull said yesterday the public hates what has been going on within his party. That’s true, but since push has come to shove, he must wear the consequences of failed leadership. When he rolled Tony Abbott, he talked of poor polling and of injecting confidence into the economy.
He talked of sending a clear economic message. As well as its tourism credentials, the Gold Coast is the small business capital yet the confidence and leadership it craves have been sporadic at best.
Public frustration extends far beyond the power games being played as the Liberals fight over the spoils of what is looking more and more like defeat at the coming election. But given Labor’s shocking track record for dumping prime ministers, Bill Shorten’s comment yesterday that Government MPs should hang their heads in shame was breathtaking in its hypocrisy. Voters are well and truly sick of what politics has become and many will continue to abandon the major parties, which will not help their situations.
Mr Turnbull has been bloody-minded in dragging this out. It is curious he is suddenly showing concern about the eligibility of his potential successor, yet has said nothing about Mr Dutton’s circumstances under Section 44 of the Constitution until now. All the Prime Minister did yesterday was prolong the pain, continue the haemorrhaging and delay the necessary resolution so that healing can begin.
Mr Turnbull has set the scene for ongoing division, which can only make the Coalition’s destruction all the more likely.
Gold Coasters should not be fooled. A Shorten government will leave our city sidelined too. We need strong leadership in the Liberal ranks, and for our bloc of conservative MPs to go on the front foot.