The government’s approach to Bridget McKenzie reveals a remarkable misunderstanding (or perhaps a remarkable misrepresentation) of the respective roles of ministers and administrators.
With parliament returning next week, Morrison can’t dally with the McKenzie affair much longer.
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Despite Morrison saying how much he respected the “professionalism”, “expertise” and “skills” of the public service, his remarks won’t be lost on federal bureaucrats.
Sport Australia wrote to McKenzie’s office before the election expressing concern it was being compromised by political interference.
Morrison’s hope for clear air for his messages is being stymied by the crisis around deputy Nationals leader Bridget McKenzie, as more damaging information emerges against her in the sports rorts affair.
Bridget McKenzie’s political future could be determined by Scott Morrison’s inquiry into whether she breached ministerial standards.
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The damaging longer-term risk for Prime Minister Scott Morrison is that some people have re-thought their view of him over the sports grants saga and his missteps in handling the bushfires.
Bridget McKenzie was a member of a shooting club that received $36,000 in grant money.
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Morrison says he referred the auditor-general report to the head of his department last week to determine if McKenzie breached ministerial standards in her sports grant dispersals.
Bridget McKenzie has said she didn’t break any rules and won’t resign.
AAP/Mick Tsikas
An audit office report has accused the government of using grants to influence votes. So what are the consequences?
‘More generally, this does reflect a lot of tension and angst within the National party,’ says Michelle Grattan on the Hanson dairy deal.
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Speaking with The Conversation’s politics podcast, McCormack said in hindsight, it would have been better to have told Nationals who’d been agitating for the code that negotiations were underway.
The Deputy PM urges farmers considering leaving their farms to ‘take every bit of good advice available before they take that ultimate step’.
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Deputy PM Michael McCormack on the drought and restive Nationals
The Conversation, CC BY33.7 MB(download)
Following tensions in the Nationals party room over the bring-forward of the dairy code for Pauline Hanson, the Deputy PM admits that the party leadership mishandled the situation.
McKenzie wrote to Hanson saying the code - which would inrease the negotiating power of milk producers - would be ready later this year, instead of next year as indicated earlier.
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Following a deal with Hanson, some Queensland NSW Nationals were so furious that a leak canvassed mutterings about the possibility of a “spill” move against deputy leader Bridget McKenzie.
Michael McCormack is the only declared candidate for Nationals leader after David Gillespie pulled out of the race.
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This is the second consecutive time the Nationals have chosen a female senator as deputy leader.
Victorian senator Bridget McKenzie was one of two Nationals to cross the floor in support of a motion to disallow the import ban on the Adler lever-action shotgun.
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Two Nationals crossed the floor and four others failed to vote on a motion from Liberal Democrat David Leyonhjelm to disallow the import ban on the Adler lever-action shotgun.
The Senate chamber looking bare during parliamentary business on Monday.
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