Rebel backbenchers Elizabeth Lee and Peter Cain. Photos: Region.
The Canberra Liberals continue to baffle and dismay their members, and the public has probably written them off as a credible political force in the ACT after this week’s antics.
Yet this is a party that holds only one seat less than the governing Labor Party and garnered 33.4 per cent of first-preference votes at last year’s election. ACT Labor only polled 34.1 per cent.
Labor only governs by the grace of the Greens, which offered the Liberals, along with the Independents, an opportunity to inflict a defeat on the government by stopping its bid to cut the sitting calendar by a week, which would offer less time to hold the government to account – the prime role of any opposition.
But for some unfathomable strategic reason, the Liberal leadership opted to support the move, prompting backbenchers Elizabeth Lee and Peter Cain to cross the floor to support a Greens amendment that denied Labor.
Already at odds with Leader Leanne Castley and Deputy Jeremy Hanson in what has become a toxic situation, they were immediately suspended from the party room, and Ms Castley issued an inflammatory statement saying they could be permanently removed.
Some thought this could mean being booted from the party, but Ms Castley was referring to the party room, although she would probably prefer the former.
After a party room meeting the next morning, Ms Lee and Mr Cain fronted the media and poured a bit more fuel on the fire by saying they had been suspended indefinitely.
Not quite, said a statement from party whip Ed Cocks. The suspension was only until another party meeting next week, when hopefully matters could be resolved.
This blow-up is but the latest in a festering feud between Ms Lee and the leadership since Ms Castley replaced her as leader after the election loss.
Ms Lee has refused to serve in the shadow cabinet, and Mr Cain walked out in June, citing differences with the leadership approach.
Then last month, the shadow cabinet adopted new rules excluding backbenchers from any decision-making on strategies and policies. It was meant to freeze the pair out or goad them into joining the shadow cabinet and sharing the workload being carried by their seven colleagues.
Ms Castley has not explained why she reacted so severely to the pair crossing the floor, which Ms Lee rightly argued was a longstanding Liberal convention.
She has only told members that the party needs to deal with “sensitive internal matters in a thoughtful way”.
Opposition Leader Leanne Castley: poor decisions. Photo: Michelle Kroll.
Ms Lee and Mr Cain were also correct in their stance that the Opposition should not be making life easier for the government by reducing the time available in the Assembly to scrutinise bills and question the government and its officials.
As one party member said, the story this week should have been how the Liberals thwarted the government’s attempt to avoid that scrutiny, not more toxic division in the party.
It has now reached the point where the Canberra Liberals cannot function properly as an Opposition, and that should be a concern for everyone.
The differences between Ms Lee and Mr Cain and the rest of the party room can’t be ideological, because while Ms Lee may be called a moderate, Mr Cain cannot.
It therefore has to be a question of style and personalities.
Ms Lee can be a thorny personality, and she has never accepted losing the leadership. In such a small party room, there is nowhere to hide, nor does she want to.
But for the sake of the ACT’s parliamentary system, party members and all Canberrans, the Canberra Liberals need to get their house in order.
The nine MLAs need to remember who pays their fat salaries. It is not the Liberal Party, but taxpayers, and at present, they are not getting anywhere near value for money.
The beneficiary, of course, is the government, which has any number of problems: the ailing budget, IT fiascos, MyWay+, school and hospital funding, and how it is managing the construction disruption in Civic.
It should be vulnerable, especially in a minority with a much more dynamic Assembly.
Ms Castley needs to remember who the enemy is, mend fences and not damage conventions that define what it is to be a Liberal.
All she has done is paint herself into a corner and call into question her own leadership with poor decision-making, something Ms Lee would be happy about.
Ms Lee and Mr Cain also need to be reminded that it is not all about them, go back to the shadow cabinet, and respect its rules. Nobody has to like each other.
In short, it’s time the Opposition did its job properly.
