Table of Contents
Good Oil readers may recall that just over a month ago I called the then-ongoing leadership of the federal Liberal party “the circus no one cares about”. By contrast, the leadership shenanigans of their coalition partner the Nationals is an even more sad and empty sideshow – and the chief huckster just deserted the collapsing tent. Even as he’s still selling tickets on himself.
David Littleproud declared on Tuesday that “I am buggered” as he announced his sudden resignation as Nationals leader after placing himself second only to the legendary John “Black Jack” McEwen in the pantheon of country leaders.
He’s kidding, right? The truth is, his surname is well earned.
Somehow Littleproud’s pride blinded him to the fact he was one of only three Nationals leaders never to have been deputy prime minister and allowed him to ignore Nationals’ leaders such as Doug Anthony, Tim Fischer, John Anderson and those who held the coalition together such as Warren Truss, Mark Vaile, Barnaby Joyce and Michael McCormack.
Littleproud’s leadership is more akin to the fumbling term of Charles Blunt, who was leader for less than a year, never made deputy prime minister, lost his seat and resigned.
And his achievements? Pass me the tiniest beer coaster and a blunt pencil.
The truth is that much of the Nationals’ policy achievements and positions for which Littleproud took credit – including opposition to the indigenous Voice to parliament and a 2050 net-zero emissions target – were imposed on him through the partyroom.
The same partyroom that re-endorsed his leadership just a month ago, but seems to have had a sudden change of heart. Most likely because of his refusal to step down after the humiliating election loss last year, and his subsequent antics of dancing in and out of the coalition agreement in a ludicrous political hokey-pokey, which was a God’s gift to Labor.
A gift which keeps on giving.
As Nationals’ leader, Littleproud publicly lost his temper and declared he couldn’t work with [Sussan Ley] as Liberal leader and split the coalition just as Anthony Albanese was losing ground.
Coalition turmoil let the prime minister off the hook, finished off Ley and boosted One Nation.
With the coalition facing its worst polling in history and falling behind One Nation on primary vote in the Newspoll survey, Ley’s resignation after her political destruction left the Liberals with the likelihood of a by-election loss in her seat of Farrer.
The Nationals, running in Farrer because it is no longer a Liberal seat, actually face an even more humiliating defeat with polling showing the independent teal candidate, One Nation and the Liberals will all finish ahead of Littleproud’s legacy.
The Nationals’ decision to run in Farrer split the conservative vote even further, virtually ensuring the Liberals cannot win, and meaning that the new junior coalition leader, whoever it is, will wear a humiliating defeat within weeks of being elected.
The only thing Littleproud’s been buggered with is the political wooden spoon.
So, who’s the unlucky holder of the soiled timber cooking implement, now?
Outspoken Queensland senator Matthew Canavan has won the party’s leadership contest, becoming the first Nationals leader to lead from the Senate.
It’s a pity that Canavan’s been handed the captain’s hat so that he can stand on the burning deck of the good ship National, while Littleproud buggers off to the lifeboats.
Senator Canavan has led the party in opposing net zero and is a social conservative on issues such as abortion.
In other words, exactly the sort of political positions the Nats – and their Liberal coalition partners – should have been holding for the last decade, instead of giving in and letting the blue-green ‘moderates’ crash the ship faster than a DEI RNZN captain.
