Spare us this Coalition chaos

I find it difficult to understand all the hand-wringing that has been going on over the on-again-off-again split in the Coalition in the wake of the Federal Election.

The Liberals and the Nationals claim to be two separate parties, both on the conservative side of politics, so why don’t they behave as such?

In virtually every Westminster-style democracy, from New Zealand to Norway, parties contest elections individually and when the result is known go about the business of forming a Government.

In Denmark the system is so ingrained, and an outright winner so unlikely, that accommodation is set aside for the various party leaders to go into negotiations as soon as the poll results are known.

Some years ago the Nationals changed their name from the Country Party, presumably to broaden their appeal in non-rural and regional areas and give conservative voters in suburban and metropolitan seats a choice.

So what happened to that? Why have the two parties remained welded onto each other when it has been made clear in the past few days there are policy differences between them?

Under the Australian political system, there is nothing to prevent the two conservative parties running separate campaigns at election time while preferencing each other.

An election where the conservative side of politics is the overall winner, but with no party having an outright majority, would be the time for coalition negotiations.

Otherwise, there is no point in having two parties on the right. Let them amalgamate, as has happened in the Northern Territory and Queensland, and spare us this political circus.   

 

 

Irish PM calls for curb on Hungary’s EU veto

Ireland's Prime Minister Micheál Martin gave voice to what a lot of other leaders in the European Union are thinking when he said there was a need to reign in Hungary’s maverick leader, Viktor Orbán’s use of the veto in EU resolutions on Ukraine.

Mr Martin (pictured) suggested a stronger use of the Article Seven procedure in the EU Constitution that allows for the suspension of certain rights of a member State if that State is threatening the core values of the institution as a whole.

“Hungary was the only country to oppose the acceptance of aid to Ukraine in its war with Russia at the last two EU summits, and is also opposed to Ukraine's accession to the Union itself,” Mr Martin said.

"It's outrageous what's happening at the moment. In my view, it's essential that Ukraine becomes a member of the European Union for geopolitical reasons.”

Article Seven was introduced in the Treaty of Amsterdam in the 1990s as countries from the defunct Warsaw Pact queued up to join the EU. However, it has never been used because the procedure has never reached the stage when sanctions could be employed.

Mr Orbán, who is often seen as promoting Russian President Vladimir Putin’s views within Europe, claims Ukraine’s membership would bankrupt the EU.

Mr Martin also criticised the ban on Pride marches in Hungary.

"We are very concerned at attempts to undermine the LGBTI community in Hungary, essentially the banning of pride parades. These are very fundamental issues that the European Union has to engage with," he said.