Farce that stops a nation

MALCOLM Turnbull’s government has been guaranteed a working majority on the floor of parliament despite the High Court disqualifying Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce from parliament.

The independent MP for the Victorian seat of Indi, Cathy McGowan, yesterday stood by her pledge to support the Coalition in any Labor-led attempts to move a noconfidence motion against the government when parliament returns in late November.

In the best-case scenario for the government, it will only be exposed in the House of Representatives without Mr Joyce’s critical vote for the four sitting days from November 27 to 30.

Mr Joyce, who discovered in August he was a New Zealand citizen by descent, is an overwhelming favourite to win a December 2 by-election for the New South Wales seat of New England.

Despite the massive blow for Mr Turnbull, Labor would need the support of all five crossbenchers in the Lower House to add to its 69 votes to come close to winning a noconfidence motion against the government.

“My position has not changed,” Ms McGowan said. “There will be no deals.

“I will continue to supply confidence and support to the government.”

The government has 74 votes on the floor of the Lower House if Mr Joyce is absent, which means it cannot secure a majority of the 150 seats in the chamber in its own right.

The Speaker, Liberal MP Tony Smith, has a casting vote in the event of a tie, but it is unlikely he will have to use it.

Mr Joyce won his seat in 2016 by a margin of 8.5 per cent, having experienced a 6 per cent swing against him.

But his former opponent, one-time independent MP Tony Windsor, yesterday ruled out contesting the seat in a by-election.

There are just two sitting weeks for the House of Rep-resentatives between now and Christmas, where parlia-ment will have to deal with same-sex marriage legis-lation should the postal sur-vey return a majority Yes vote on November 15.

Mr Turnbull was sworn in as Agriculture and Water Minister yesterday after the High Court deemed Mr Joyce ineligible to sit in parliament.

"We have a majority of members in the House of Representatives, even in the absence of Barnaby Joyce and, of course ... we have support from the crossbench," he said.

Labor deputy leader Tanya Plibersek said Austra-lia now had a hung parlia-ment with a minority government "because Barna-by Joyce broke the law".