Ructions over Macfarlane move

His transfer from the Liberals to the Nationals still requires endorsement by the Queensland LNP’s executive and the divisional council for his seat of Groom.

But the veteran Queensland Liberal MP has already been heavily criticised by parliamentary colleagues for his decision to shift to the Nationals, which was unveiled last week on the final parliamentary sitting day for 2015.

It’s understood sources inside the National party have known of the planned move and Mr Macfarlane’s dissatisfaction since late September - shortly after Malcolm Turnbull’s first ministry was announced.

But the story was leaked to the media on Thursday last week after the plan was discussed during an internal National party meeting, sending shockwaves through both conservative political factions.

Mr Macfarlane has been in cabinet for more than half of his 18-year political career and was Industry and Science Minister under Tony Abbott.

But the 60-year-old MP failed to fit into Mr Turnbull’s renewal agenda and was subsequently aggrieved after being dumped from the cabinet.

That was despite the new Liberal leader at the time describing Mr Macfarlane as “as one of my very, very best friends in this place".

Mr Macfarlane subsequently sought the ear of long-term friend and National party leader Warren Truss about the potential switch to sit in the Nationals party room.

Early reports of the “Scottish” plan which credited Mr Joyce for the coup have also been bitterly rejected by party sources, raising questions about any apparent motive and strategy behind the media leak that could now spark internal sanctions.

Mr Turnbull was asked about the controversy yesterday but fended off media questioning, including as to whether the defection would force a Cabinet reshuffle.

“You have asked me about some internal Coalition matters, that is something for discussion within the Coalition, it is something in particular for discussion within the LNP,” he said.

Under the Coalition Agreement, ministry positions are calculated based on the number of elected representatives for each party, in both houses of parliament.

Despite Mr Macfarlane’s potential addition to the National party - and that of another Queensland LNP MP Scott Buchholz who is a former chief of staff to Nationals deputy leader Barnaby Joyce - the calculation would still fall short of totalling four entitlements with 22 or 23 members.

The Nationals currently have three cabinet positions under their current entitlement - Mr Truss as Infrastructure Minister; Mr Joyce as Agriculture and Water Resources Minister; and Indigenous Affairs Minister Nigel Scullion.

Mr Macfarlane’s likely move to the Nationals is also adding another layer of complexity to ongoing leadership speculation over whether Mr Joyce has the numbers and support needed to become the next Nationals’ leader, if and when Mr Truss retires.

The defection would add a senior politician to the Nationals' party room but could also damage and subvert the aspirations of others seeking senior roles, in the ministry.

Rural Health Minister and NSW Senator Fiona Nash refused to say publicly whether she’d be upset at Mr Macfarlane potentially leapfrogging other colleagues, into the ministry, if a cabinet reshuffle resulted from the defection.

Senator Nash told ABC Radio today that she believed Mr Macfarlane had made a “good contribution” as a government minister, in the past.

But she declined to comment further when pushed on whether she was upset at the move, saying ministerial matters were an issue for the leader of the day.

On ABC Radio last week, Mr Joyce also rejected a suggestion that Mr Macfarlane had “ratted on the Liberal party”.

He said if Mr Macfarlane stood again for election in his seat of Groom, it would be with the same party, given the LNP represented a merger of the Liberals and Nationals in Queensland.

Mr Joyce said people were also talking about the issue as if Mr Macfarlane had joined the Labor party.

Asked if Mr Macfarlane had changed camps to “game the system” - as suggested by Victorian Liberal MP Dan Tehan - Mr Joyce said it wasn’t the first time politicians had switched parties.

He referred to Julian McGauran who was first elected to federal parliament as a Victorian Senator representing the National party in 1987 but moved to the Liberals in 2006 saying there was no longer any policy difference between the two.

Mr Joyce said Mr Macfarlane had “every right” to assess how he best can best represent his rural community and having made that assessment “I support it”.

He said politics was also a game that’s “ruthlessly governed by the numbers” and any additional ministry position for the Nationals would come down to a discussion between Mr Truss and Mr Turnbull.

“These things happen all the time – we just changed Prime Minister not that long ago,” he said.

But Mr Tehan was scathing of his Liberal colleague for moving over to the Nationals.

“This isn’t about the amount of dirt we’ve got under our fingernails; this isn’t about who best represents rural and regional Australia; this is purely about someone seeking a position and that’s what it should be called for,” he said.

Mr Tehan said politicians should be staying loyal to the party which helped them reach parliament and then focus on best representing their communities.

But in inferring Mr Macfarlane’s move, he said people should not “game the system for their own self-advancement”.

Attorney-General and Liberal Senator George Brandis was also critical of the Macfarlane move when asked about the issue yesterday on commercial television in an interview with political commentator Andrew Bolt.

Senator Brandis said while Mr Macfarlane had indicated he’d like to make the move, it was now a matter for the Queensland LNP executive to give its approval.

“But I should remind you that a fortnight ago Mr Macfarlane was endorsed as the LNP candidate for Groom at the next election on the explicit understanding that he would sit in the Liberal party room,” he said.

“We now know that this plan had been in being for weeks before that.

“And I think that, frankly, the branch members of the LNP who endorsed Mr Macfarlane on that understanding are entitled to ask him why he didn't reveal to them that he had these plans in place at the time he sought their endorsement to sit as a Liberal in the Federal Parliament.”

Senator Brandis said the Nationals were entitled to their share of ministries and the Coalition agreement in that regard was “governed by nothing other than the iron laws of arithmetic”.

“But I think the question is really a question of how Mr Macfarlane has gone about this,” he said.

“No backbencher can force a Cabinet reshuffle on a prime minister by swapping parties in order to game the system.

“I don't believe that Mr Macfarlane should have done what he did.

“I think it's left a very bad taste in people's mouths, the way in which this has been done.”

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten said the issue with Mr Macfarlane was “an even bigger crisis” for the Liberals than the matter concerning embattled minister Mal Brough And causing “deeper disunity within the Liberal Party”

He said in the last 11 weeks Mr Truss had been negotiating with an unhappy former Liberal minister to change parties.

“Now, maybe people think that's just the way of politics - but if your Deputy Prime Minister knows that this is going to embarrass the leader, Malcolm Turnbull - and it clearly is embarrassing - if he knows it's going to make Malcolm Turnbull angry - and it clearly has, Malcolm Turnbull pulled out of a Macfarlane function over the weekend - and then he still does it, there's a real issue there,” he said.

“This Macfarlane flip from the Liberals to the Nationals gives the Nationals the chance to have another Cabinet seat.

“Now what's Malcolm Turnbull going to do here?

“Is he going to give in to this stunt, to this undermining, reward about with a new cabinet spot hand and that of course is going to make all the younger Liberals very angry, or does he say no, and then you've got a Coalition in crisis?

“Now, I'm sure they will be working overtime to paper over the cracks, but this is the first visible fault line of a government which is bitterly divided.”