It’s been quite a week in Australian politics.
Sunday saw rumours of a spill the end of the year, with internal chatter and backbenchers and ministers speaking out. There were also fears of a double-digit swing in the Canning by-election. Then Monday happened.
I did a whole evening of coverage on this blog and tumblr, but long story short, Malcolm Turnbull turfed Tony Abbott in a spill 54 votes to 44, in what Annabel Crabb called an “epic frontstabbing”.
#libspill updates: 6:50pm 8:35pm 9:55pm 11:05pm Next day
In Turnbull’s first day as Prime Minister, he paid tribute to Abbott as PM and did a lot of interviews. He’s expected to announce his new cabinet early next week, and is expected to have more women in it. It’s believed that Joe Hockey will lose the role of Treasurer, but could be given another ministry – maybe Communications. Meanwhile others are trying to keep their jobs, with Kevin Andrew saying he should keep his because changing the Defence Minister would not be good from a security point of view. Turnbull also signed NDIS deals with New South Wales and Victoria, as well as spending the week warning news cameramen not to walk into the furniture at Parliament House as they walk backwards while filming him. It wasn’t all rainbows and sunshine for Turnbull though, with someone leaking to media about some statistics. Apparently Turnbull had a poor record of promoting women to board positions while in the corporate world – the leak is believed to be the work of a disgruntled Abbott supporter.
On an international front, many leaders have welcomed Turnbull to the job, with some countries appearing to be overjoyed at the change in leadership, especially Indonesia. The Jakarta Post is reported to have used the term “good riddance” in reference to Abbott in an editorial. Meanwhile, others have watched on in confusion as we acquired the fifth Prime Minister in as many years.
Labor, on the other hand is not as impressed with the new Prime Minister. It was believed that because the Abbott Government was so hated that Labor would have an easy go at regaining a majority in the House of Reps, and throwing out a first term PM – something that would have given Bill Shorten a pretty good legacy as the saviour from Abbott. With Turnbull, who is one of the most popular people in Australian politics, Shorten and Labor have more work to do, and it makes their job a lot harder.
This week was dominated by the spill, and it meant that a lot of Abbott supporters, especially Andrew Bolt, Alan Jones, Ray Hadley and Rowan Dean, were not happy with the change of leadership. They’ve not only called Turnbull a traitor but also anyone who voted for him. While Scott Morrison has publicly said that he voted for Abbott, there has been speculation that some sort of background deal may have been made. It lead to an exchange on Ray Hadley’s 2GB show in which Hadley demanded that Morrison swear on the Bible that he was telling the truth. Morrison, who is Christian and attends a church affiliated with Hillsong, was understandably offended and upset by the whole thing.
Meanwhile, the Canning by-election was held this weekend and won by the Liberal Party’s Andrew Hastie.
Tweets of the Week
https://twitter.com/leighsales/status/643645563691360256
Things I’ve Been Looking at Online
David Marr on the leadership change – The Guardian
Annabel Crabb on the leadership change – ABC The Drum
The BBC’s Australia correspondent reflects on the change – BBC
The Taiwanese Animators made a video about the spill
Kara L 