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| Michaelia Cash and the rogue staffer: when political theatre goes off-script | Michaelia Cash and the rogue staffer: when political theatre goes off-script |
| (about 11 hours later) | |
| I’ll keep this brief, because there’s only one thing you can say about the events of the past 24 hours: what a complete shocker. | I’ll keep this brief, because there’s only one thing you can say about the events of the past 24 hours: what a complete shocker. |
| What was supposed to be a short, sharp, stage-managed morality play about Bill Shorten having “questions to answer” from his days as a trade union official has now blown up, politically, in the Turnbull government’s face. | What was supposed to be a short, sharp, stage-managed morality play about Bill Shorten having “questions to answer” from his days as a trade union official has now blown up, politically, in the Turnbull government’s face. |
| After telling a Senate committee for much of the day that neither she, nor her office, tipped off the media about controversial police raids on the Australian Workers’ Union, the employment minister Michaelia Cash, has now had to correct the public record, and cop the resignation of a senior member of her staff. | |
| “How can we actually believe anything you say,” the Labor senator Doug Cameron asked of the besieged minister on Wednesday night after a day which had lurched between paint-stripping hyper-partisan aggression and high farce. | “How can we actually believe anything you say,” the Labor senator Doug Cameron asked of the besieged minister on Wednesday night after a day which had lurched between paint-stripping hyper-partisan aggression and high farce. |
| Given Cash had told the committee five times throughout the course of Wednesday that neither she, nor her office, had assisted in putting cameras on the scene of the raids before the police turned up at AWU offices, the plausibility question from Cameron seemed entirely reasonable. | Given Cash had told the committee five times throughout the course of Wednesday that neither she, nor her office, had assisted in putting cameras on the scene of the raids before the police turned up at AWU offices, the plausibility question from Cameron seemed entirely reasonable. |
| Cash, for her part, insisted that she had come forward with the relevant information as soon as was practicable. The rogue staffer (a recurring trope in politics) had only come forward and ‘fessed up to his conduct in the dinner break, and the correction of the public record had followed shortly after. | Cash, for her part, insisted that she had come forward with the relevant information as soon as was practicable. The rogue staffer (a recurring trope in politics) had only come forward and ‘fessed up to his conduct in the dinner break, and the correction of the public record had followed shortly after. |
| The media tip-off had not been authorised, Cash said; she had no knowledge. | The media tip-off had not been authorised, Cash said; she had no knowledge. |
| Yeah, nah, was the collective response of the Labor folks across the estimates table, who had been objecting to a government filibuster in the estimates committee, which had been very obviously in play for a couple of hours, to push past the television news bulletins. | Yeah, nah, was the collective response of the Labor folks across the estimates table, who had been objecting to a government filibuster in the estimates committee, which had been very obviously in play for a couple of hours, to push past the television news bulletins. |
| Cameron warned Labor would continue to pursue the issue for as long as it took for Cash to take responsibility, as ministers are supposed to do in the Westminster system. | Cameron warned Labor would continue to pursue the issue for as long as it took for Cash to take responsibility, as ministers are supposed to do in the Westminster system. |
| This was the beginning, not the end, of questions about this imbroglio, was Cameron’s clear implication. So, Michaelia, settle in, how long have you got? | This was the beginning, not the end, of questions about this imbroglio, was Cameron’s clear implication. So, Michaelia, settle in, how long have you got? |
| The government has mired itself in its own mess, not only by enabling media coverage of the police raids, but by its decision to send off the reference for this particular investigation to the Registered Organisations Commission. | The government has mired itself in its own mess, not only by enabling media coverage of the police raids, but by its decision to send off the reference for this particular investigation to the Registered Organisations Commission. |
| While no participant in the political process gets a free pass, while it is perfectly appropriate and valid that any participant in the political process answer questions about their conduct, whether it happened five minutes ago, or 10 years ago – the government also has to deal with how things look, with voter perceptions of its conduct and motives. | While no participant in the political process gets a free pass, while it is perfectly appropriate and valid that any participant in the political process answer questions about their conduct, whether it happened five minutes ago, or 10 years ago – the government also has to deal with how things look, with voter perceptions of its conduct and motives. |
| It’s self-evident that voters want everyone in the system to play by the rules. | It’s self-evident that voters want everyone in the system to play by the rules. |
| But through its own over-egging, and misguided stage management, and it’s too obvious desire to apply the blowtorch to inconvenient institutional foes, the government has opened itself up to commentary that this whole process is less about serving the public interest, and more about indulging obsessive witch hunts against political opponents. | But through its own over-egging, and misguided stage management, and it’s too obvious desire to apply the blowtorch to inconvenient institutional foes, the government has opened itself up to commentary that this whole process is less about serving the public interest, and more about indulging obsessive witch hunts against political opponents. |