The self-proclaimed defender of country people, Nationals Queensland senator Matt Canavan abstained from voting in the senate yesterday to overturn a Liberal ban on the controversial Adler lever action shotgun.
Canavan typically exudes the cultural malady rampant in the National Party today. The party is reeling after Liberal Attorney General George Brandis was overheard describing the Queensland Nationals as “very, very mediocre.”
Canavan and his ‘chair polishing’ colleague Senator Ian Macdonald both defended their lacklustre performances.
As One Nation surges in the polls since the Federal election the Nationals are aghast particularly after they lost the NSW seat of Orange in a recent by-election by 50 votes to the Shooters Party. The Nationals have held the seat for 70 years.
Comments last week by former LNP Premier Campbell Newman that after the next election the State would be run by a coalition of the LNP, One Nation and Katter members has rattled the State Opposition leaving leader Tim Nicholls to defend his perceived, poor performance.
Speaking on ABC Radio Tuesday morning Nationals Leader Barnaby Joyce backed the Liberal ban on Adler shotguns, albeit defending the right of several Nationals senators to cross the floor in an attempt to overturn it.
Hanson rift with Katter unreasonable
Backroom moves to overcome Pauline Hanson’s unreasonable rift with Member for Kennedy Bob Katter continue as most commentators believe One Nation will win few Queensland seats without Katter preferences.
Katter says he has done nothing to upset Hanson and would like to form a partnership with One Nation to select seats which either party could win.
Hanson has yet to realise her party’s seemingly unassailable position in Queensland has only occurred because Katter has paved the way for her over the past decade with his relentless campaign against the mainstream parties.
Katters continued stance against the nanny state, over- regulation, firearm bans, runaway crocodile populations, unregulated banks, foreign ownership, 457 visas and support for dam building and numerous other infrastructure policies burning in the public mind has given the high profile Hanson the impetus to rise in the polls.
Hanson says she is running her own ship but she should consult with her memory as to why One Nation imploded 18 years ago.
She should heed the sensible advice given by her “adopted son” and advisor, James Ashby and back off from the vilification of her allies.