In the current issue of The Spectator, Australian author Peter O’Brien in an article titled, ‘Our worst ever government’, writes “My prediction is that this time (2025 Federal election) Peter Dutton will make history. But he has to avoid what I believe was Abbott’s biggest mistake in 2013, and that was to ignore the importance of the Senate. If you want to change the government in a way that will matter, you have to change not just your local member. You also have to change the Senate, and this theme needs to figure hugely in the Coalition campaign. Changing the Senate may be easier said than done but if you don’t talk loudly about it, it won’t happen.”
As most will recall, Tony Abbott's Coalition went to the 2013 election promising to ‘abolish the carbon tax, abolish the mining tax and stop the boats’.
Upon election, seven Centre-Right (CR) Senate crossbenchers (fellow Liberty Itch publisher David Leyonhjelm and I were two of them) voted in support of these three key election pledges giving the Government the numbers it needed (33 + 7) to get its legislation passed. More about those numbers (33 + 7) shortly.
Following this successful endeavour, David and I met with the Prime Minister and put to him what we called a 40–40–40 game plan – ‘40 votes (a Senate majority) to fix 40 years of unfinished business and set the nation up for the next 40 years.’ 40–40–40.
It had been 40 years since a Liberal Government under Malcolm Fraser had a majority in the Senate and had squandered the opportunity.
David and I tried to convince the Prime Minister - and Senate Leader Mathias Cormann – that the best way to get the Coalition’s policies through the parliament was to have more senators like us.
Needless to say, our suggestion was not taken up.
In fact, the exact opposite happened. The Coalition teamed up with the Greens (who had voted against ‘abolishing the carbon tax, abolishing the mining tax and stopping the boats) and changed the Senate voting laws to get rid of those very senators who had just supported them!
As a result, and as predicted by John Howard, the Greens increased their number of Senate seats from 10 to 12, Labor increased its number of seats from 25 to 26, centre-left parties increased from 1 to 3, the Coalition lost a seat and the CR parties dropped from 7 seats to 3. From 33 + 7 (a CR majority) to 32 + 3 (a CR minority). A loss of 5 Senate seats!
If anyone can explain why the Coalition did that, I’d love to hear from them.
In the current issue of The Spectator, Australian author Peter O’Brien in an article titled, ‘Our worst ever government’, writes “My prediction is that this time (2025 Federal election) Peter Dutton will make history. But he has to avoid what I believe was Abbott’s biggest mistake in 2013, and that was to ignore the importance of the Senate. If you want to change the government in a way that will matter, you have to change not just your local member. You also have to change the Senate, and this theme needs to figure hugely in the Coalition campaign. Changing the Senate may be easier said than done but if you don’t talk loudly about it, it won’t happen.”
As most will recall, Tony Abbott's Coalition went to the 2013 election promising to ‘abolish the carbon tax, abolish the mining tax and stop the boats’.
Upon election, seven Centre-Right (CR) Senate crossbenchers (fellow Liberty Itch publisher David Leyonhjelm and I were two of them) voted in support of these three key election pledges giving the Government the numbers it needed (33 + 7) to get its legislation passed. More about those numbers (33 + 7) shortly.
Following this successful endeavour, David and I met with the Prime Minister and put to him what we called a 40–40–40 game plan – ‘40 votes (a Senate majority) to fix 40 years of unfinished business and set the nation up for the next 40 years.’ 40–40–40.
It had been 40 years since a Liberal Government under Malcolm Fraser had a majority in the Senate and had squandered the opportunity.
David and I tried to convince the Prime Minister - and Senate Leader Mathias Cormann – that the best way to get the Coalition’s policies through the parliament was to have more senators like us.
Needless to say, our suggestion was not taken up.
In fact, the exact opposite happened. The Coalition teamed up with the Greens (who had voted against ‘abolishing the carbon tax, abolishing the mining tax and stopping the boats) and changed the Senate voting laws to get rid of those very senators who had just supported them!
As a result, and as predicted by John Howard, the Greens increased their number of Senate seats from 10 to 12, Labor increased its number of seats from 25 to 26, centre-left parties increased from 1 to 3, the Coalition lost a seat and the CR parties dropped from 7 seats to 3. From 33 + 7 (a CR majority) to 32 + 3 (a CR minority). A loss of 5 Senate seats!
If anyone can explain why the Coalition did that, I’d love to hear from them.