Canberra’s Pot and Palmer Night or When the Bull Turns « The Australian Independent Media Network

Canberra’s Pot and Palmer Night or When the Bull Turns « The Australian Independent Media Network

Canberra’s Pot and Palmer Night or When the Bull Turns

By rossleighbrisbane on May 31, 2014 • ( 1 )

“One version of the get-together is as follows.

Mr
Turnbull was back late in Parliament House because his department was
being grilled in Senate Estimates hearings. As he left he ran into a
friend, business executive and Liberal Party vice-president Tom Harley
who also was a friend of Mr Palmer. They agreed Mr Turnbull should text
Mr Palmer and invite him to dinner. Another businessman, John Fast, was
with them.

In
the Parliament House car park Mr Turnbull ran into Dr Parkinson, who
had been head of the Environment Department when Mr Turnbull was
Environment Minister in 2007. He, too, was invited to dine.” 

news.com.au

A couple of weeks ago, I tried to explain to someone that Labor and
The Greens couldn’t force a double dissolution in the current
circumstances, and that I couldn’t really see a scenario where Abbott
was likely to declare one. For a start, even if they blocked supply,
Abbott could simply wait till the new Senate and have a great time
shifting the focus from the Budget to their “economic vandalism”. Even
in the highly unlikely event of the new Senate still refusing to pass
appropriation bills, Abbott could still just wait it out, all the time
blaming Labor for any problems being caused. “Wouldn’t the
Governor-General sack him – like in 1975?” When I tried to explain that
John Kerr’s sacking of Whitlam was incredibly divisive, the person
declared that it was either a double dissolution or a revolution. Like
Russell’s Revolution where we all declare we won’t vote until they get
their act together?  At this point the conversation broke down.


However, when I’m wrong I’m the first to admit it. Maybe not loudly,
or even audibly, but, at least, I do admit it. So I’m going to give you a
far-fetched scenario on how a double dissolution may occur. But before I
do, I’d like to give you an account of the events leading up to the
“secret” dinner between Turnbull, Palmer and Company.


Scenario A.

Turnbull – Hi, Tom, good to see you.


Harley – Hi, Malcolm, what you up to?


Turnbull – Just going to grab some dinner. Want to join me?


Harley – Sure. But what if we order too much and can’t finish it?


Turnbull – I know, Clive Palmer’s a friend of yours. Why don’t we invite him along?


Harley – That’s a good idea. And he’s a friend of mine, why don’t you text him at the Minerals Council dinner and ask him to leave that to join us at the Wild Duck.


Turnbull – Slow down, Tom, we haven’t agreed we’re going there yet. We have to get our story straight.


Harley – Sure, you text as we walk into the Parliamentary car park.


Turnbull – Hey look, there’s Martin Parkinson. Hey, Martin, you want to come to dinner with us?


Parkinson – Sure, there’s nothing I’d rather do than hang
around with a couple of Liberals, given how Tony Abbott has liberated
me from my job.


Harley – Clive’s probably going to join us.


Parkinson – Super. Clive’s so much fun. I hope we’re going to The Wild Duck. I hear they have a banana split to die for.

Now, for the far-fetched scenario.


Scenario B


With Abbott languishing in the polls, Turnbull is doing the numbers. (Remember this
from a couple of weeks ago?) His dinner with Palmer was all about
garnering support for certain items, so that he could add his ability to
convince Clive to pass them as an extra selling point when making his
case that the time has come for a change. Palmer, on the other hand, is
extracting deals from Turnbull. And Parkinson would have a good idea
about what was and wasn’t possible. 


Abbott gets wind of Turnbull’s plan, and decides to do
the only possible thing to ensure the long term future. He calls a
double dissolution, so that leadership speculation has to stop and the
party has to unite behind him. Once he wins that, he figures that his
leadership will be safe. But what about being behind in the polls?
Abbott decides that he’d have a better chance of winning an election
where Murdoch backs him, than a party room ballot where nobody does.


Yep, that does sound far-fetched, doesn’t it? Scenario A sounds much more credible. Like I said, I always admit when I’m wrong.