I am going to get a bit parochial here but bear with me because a strongly held principle is at stake.
At least it was a principle strongly held by the Liberal Party until Steven Marshall became premier of South Australia.
Yesterday, his Attorney General Vickie Chapman was found to have misled parliament, acted improperly through a conflict of interest and being the subject of a successful no-confidence motion.
In any other world that would require a resignation. However, that doesn’t apply in the parallel universe that Chapman and Marshall inhabit in South Australia.
Instead, the marshmallow premier has insisted he backs his deputy 100% - despite the parliament seeing it somewhat differently.
The problem stems from her decision to act against advice and stop a port development on Kangaroo Island. My insiders tell me it was meant to be a cabinet decision but Chapman, who has a property directly affected by the decision, announced the veto before it could get to cabinet. They tell me it was because cabinet was expecting to endorse the development.
There are two aspects to this that should trouble us. Firstly, if she didn’t take it to cabinet when she was required to then she should have been sacked immediately. Secondly, if someone with such a clear conflict wasn’t required to take it to cabinet then that is a terrible failure by Premier Marshmallow.
Now this hapless duo have dug in.
Their egos more important than the historical principles of parliament.
Most of you will know of my history as a Liberal. It’s historically stood for principle, values, freedom and a fair go. I left the party when it became captive to a new breed of political opportunists who saw parliament as a way to atone for a childhood of being a schoolyard misfit or validation of their own self-importance.
When a premier and his deputy are prepared to sacrifice one of the most important traditions of the Westminster system of parliament to save their own skin, you know they stand for nothing.
Cory Bernardi is the author of seven books and has been a member of the Australian rowing team, a publican, an investment portfolio manager and spent nearly 14 years as an Australian Senator.
