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- Barnaby Joyce
Why Michael McCormack's bet each way threatens to skewer his credibility
As things stand, Michael McCormack is considered the next most likely leader of the Nationals.
But the little-known Riverina-based MP continues to have a bet each way, opting to mollify a party room apparently convinced beleaguered leader Barnaby Joyce can yet ride out the storm.
This is delusional.
A Monday morning interview with Sky New presenter Ashleigh Gillon graphically demonstrated the Nationals' paralysis and the exquisite dilemma facing any future leader not prepared to crash through or crash - to either prevail or, if need be, wind up on the losing side on a matter of principle.
McCormack's awkwardness over a transfer of power that ordinary Australians know must take place threatens to skewer his credibility, tie him up in Joyce's shambolic travails, further damage the Nationals' reputation for social conservatism, and ultimately neuter his effectiveness should he ultimately become leader.
Asked repeatedly to state his own position, McCormack kept saying the party supports its leader.
It was only when an exasperated Gillon laid out the reality for him, that the penny finally dropped. Observers, she said, would inevitably focus on his excruciating efforts to avoid backing his leader, or ruling out a challenge. "Of course I support Barnaby Joyce," came the grudging reply.
Veterans' Affairs Minister Michael McCormack during the Sky News interview from Darwin.
Photo: Sky NewsBy virtue of his favouritism, McCormack's performance is under new scrutiny. He cannot sidestep the values questions dodged by Joyce.
In the social dimension, voters will want to know where he stands on the Barnaby Joyce affair. Is he with two thirds of Australians who expected better from the Nationals, or is he with a deluded party room still hoping it will all be forgotten?
In the political dimension, the question is what level of chaos and brand damage warrants resignation or forced removal?
This crisis has surpassed the threshhold for action in both dimensions. Yet where are clear statements from McCormack and his supporters?
Viewers of the ABC's series on Bob Hawke were reminded on Sunday night of how the Labor PM eschewed departmental advice recommending appeasement of Beijing after it murderously put down the Tiananmen Square pro-democrcacy demonstrations.
Hawke instead went full throttle. His principled leadership took the courage of conviction which in the process revealed the Australian government's moral core.
Malcolm Turnbull's beefed-up code of conduct - the so-called bonking ban is hardly of the same character.
Yet no Nationals MP of any seniority has even gone this far.
Mark Kenny is the national affairs editor for the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, based at Parliament House
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