Former Nationals leader Michael McCormack has joined new leader Matt Canavan’s frontbench. Photo: Nationals.
It says a lot about the state of Australian politics that One Nation continues its ascendancy, and now at the expense of both major parties.
Several recently published opinion polls show Pauline Hanson’s grievance party to be increasingly resonating with right-wing voters, which is a scary prospect for the entire country.
Let’s take a look at one of those polls – the Resolve Poll, conducted monthly for Nine newspapers by research firm Resolve Strategic. The latest instalment was released on Monday (16 March).
The national survey, conducted between 9 and 14 March, shows the Coalition got no bump from a change in leadership but has instead actually gone slightly backwards since Angus Taylor wrenched Sussan Ley from the top job.
But it also shows Labor to be slipping in the primary vote while One Nation, which has been ahead of the Coalition in other recent polling for some weeks now, is steadily climbing further.
The Resolve Poll of 1803 voting Australians gave Labor a 29 per cent primary vote, which is down 3 points since the pollster’s February survey.
One Nation is up 1 point to 24 per cent in the current poll, while the Coalition falls back 1 point to a primary vote of 22 per cent.
The Greens are up 1 point to 12 per cent, independents are also up one to 8 per cent, and others (whoever they might be) are holding steady at 5 per cent.
It’s worth noting that a YouGov poll conducted a week earlier this month, based on a 1500-person sample, had Labor up 1 point and One Nation up 2 points, while the Coalition slipped backwards 3 points.
A Morgan Poll conducted around the same time as the YouGov one had Labor’s primary vote down a significant 4 points, the Coalition’s down a point and One Nation’s up 1.5 points – all on the primary vote.
Seat polling for the upcoming by-election in Ley’s now vacant seat of Farrer, puts One Nation with a realistic chance of picking up the seat, once considered a Coalition stronghold.
Before Ley, the seat was held by the formidable Tim Fischer, a one-time Nationals leader and deputy prime minister.
A National Party leader and a Liberal Party leader have held the NSW regional seat.
It now faces the prospect of being snatched by a One Nation candidate at the hands of a disgruntled electorate.
If Farrer falls to One Nation, the minor party’s momentum will continue to build, and similar fates could await regional and rural seats across other parts of the country.
One Nation will never be in a position to form a government in Australia, but could very much be in a position to inflict a lot more damage on it.
So, with all that in mind, let’s take a look at the latest right-wing party to do a little shuffling around in the hope of countering some of the non-policy ramblings of One Nation.
The Nationals have a new leadership team, which comes closely on the heels of the Liberals’ shake-up.
This one wasn’t a coup, as such, as with the Libs.
David Littleproud had had enough and, reading the writing on the wall, voluntarily stepped aside, citing exhaustion.
With the hard-right (but also surprisingly reasonable at times) Matt Canavan now at the helm, new Nationals positions on the Coalition’s front bench were handed out on Monday.
Let’s not forget that the entire Nationals portion of the Sussan Ley front bench quit before being forgiven and returned by Angus Taylor.
Now that dust has settled, the latest shadow ministry positions have been doled out.
As leader, Canavan takes on the trade, investment and tourism portfolio.
Littleproud, former leader, remains in the shadow ministry but outside of the shadow cabinet in the emergency management and tourism portfolio.
Littleproud’s former deputy, Kevin Hogan, is the shadow assistant treasurer.
New deputy leader Darren Chester, a former government minister, moves into the Opposition’s agriculture, fisheries and forestry portfolio.
Bridget McKenzie, the leader of the Nationals in the Senate and shadow infrastructure minister, is also a former government minister – and a massive talent.
Susan McDonald continues as shadow minister for resources and Northern Australia where she has kicked more than a few goals.
In a real smart move, Canavan and Taylor have brought Michael McCormack back to the front bench and into shadow cabinet with responsibility for water and veterans’ affairs.
McCormack is a former National Party leader and a former deputy prime minister in both the Turnbull and Morrison governments.
He was wasted on the backbench, and his return to the Coalition’s frontbench has just strengthened the Federal Opposition, despite some of his wild antics of late as a somewhat maverick backbencher.
And despite the months of Nationals’ infighting and recent schoolyard tactics (and the on-again-off-again affair with the Coalition agreement), I guess what I’m really trying to point out here is that the Nationals bring more talent and cohesion to the ongoing Australian narrative than the divisive One Nation ever could.
Original Article published by Chris Johnson on Region Canberra.
