The Liberals in Limbo — how low can they go?
The latest squabbling incompetence:
Gold Coast MP Ray Stevens says leadership contender Tim Nicholls should withdraw his challenge and get behind Mark McArdle.
Mr Stevens says if the matter is not resolved that way, he says his legal advice suggests the only option left will be to draw names out of a hat.
“That is unacceptable to the people of Queensland [and] it’s unacceptable to me,” he said.
“If Mr Nicholls were to win that particular toss of the coin or ballot or whatever he would be forever known as toss-up Tim.”
Why the hell the Queensland Nationals are putting up with this incompetence from their supposed coalition partners beats me.
Against the 59 Labor MPs in Queensland, there are 17 Nationals MPs, and 8 Liberal MPs. Since Labor’s clever “Just vote [1]” campaign in 2004 stopped the Nationals and Liberals from running candidates in the same seat, that means that the Liberals won 16.3% of the seats they contested, while the Nationals won 42.5% (Labor won 66%).
The Qld Liberals are dead and getting worse every day, the Nationals are the only real opposition in Qld, and they should start acting like it — by trying to win a majority at the next election in their own right (rather than not even putting up candidates in over 50% of seats), telling people to let their preferences be heard and not “Just vote [1]”, and if the Liberals can’t get their act together, withdrawing from the state coalition entirely so they aren’t dragged down with them.
“You’re an embarrassment to Queensland. Get on with the job, get a leader and start doing the things you’re elected to do.”
What she said.
UPDATE 2007/12/06:
Earlier today, Nationals leader Jeff Seeney described the debacle as damaging to the Coalition’s credibility.
[…]
Mr McArdle won when Mr Nicholls withdrew his challenge to take on the deputy’s position instead.
The compromise was reached after Mr Seeney threatened to tear up the Coalition agreement.