Source: The Australian
IN a political first for Australia, a Liberal senator may be joining the parliamentary Nationals party in Canberra while remaining a Liberal.
Queensland Liberal senator Russell Trood has left the door open to a suggestion by Nationals Senate Leader Barnaby Joyce that he sit in the Nationals partyroom.
The move could defuse a spat between the Coalition partners over the Senate spot likely to be available by Senator Joyce switching to the House of Representatives.
The row has intensified, with Liberals yesterday attacking a plan by Queensland Nationals to breach the constitution of the state's Liberal National Party by replacing Senator Joyce in the upper house with another Nationals candidate.
The Australian reported yesterday that a former Nationals senate candidate, Brisbane businessman David Goodwin, was set to take Senator Joyce's spot on the LNP Senate ticket.
Under the LNP constitution, any sitting LNP senator who seeks endorsement for a vacated Senate spot will be endorsed by the party.
Senator Trood had been dropped to the unwinnable fourth position on the LNP Senate ticket behind Senator Joyce and Liberal senators Brett Mason and George Brandis. The constitutional provision should ensure his promotion up the ticket to a winnable spot ifSenator Joyce departs the Senate.
Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull has told the LNP leadership that the replacement of Senator Joyce with a National is unacceptable. If the LNP constitution was enforced following Senator Joyce's departure, the Nationals would lose one of their four senators.
Senator Joyce said yesterday it was up to the LNP leadership to determine his replacement if he moved to the lower house. However, Senator Joyce said it was reasonable to expect that the person nominated should sit with the Nationals in Canberra.
``I am the one who is taking the big risks and making the sacrifices with this move to the lower house,'' Senator Joyce told The Weekend Australian. ``It's not too much to expect that whoever takes my place makes a small sacrifice if need be and sits with the National Party in Canberra.
That is only fair and reasonable.'' Liberal sources described as laughable the idea of Senator Trood, a small-L Liberal on the left of his party, sitting with the Nationals.
Senator Trood has been critical of the Nationals in the past, and opposed the merging of the state coalition partners into the Liberal National Party. Senator Trood said yesterday that he expected to take Senator Joyce's Senate place if it became available.
``The constitutional provisions are utterly unambiguous and clear and my expectation is that the clause in question will be implemented,'' he said. Senator Trood would not rule out joining the federal Nationals' parliamentary party. ``That has never been raised with me and it is an entirely hypothetical idea.
The LNP constitution makes no provision in relation to that matter.'' Federal Liberal MP for Ryan Michael Johnson said the Liberal Party insisted that Senator Trood should take Senator Joyce's upper house position.
``Any semblance of unity in the LNP would be expunged if old-style political practices saw Senator Joyce replaced by a member of the former National Party,'' Mr Johnson said. ``The idea that Senator Trood would not be at the head of the queue to replace him is unacceptable.''
Mr Johnson said he ``could not imagine'' Senator Trood sitting in the Nationals' partyroom.
Senator Joyce said he would not be vacating the Senate until towards the end of his term next year if he makes the switch. ``I've still got a job that I was elected to do.
I'm the main breadwinner in this family and I've got to put food on the table.''