Embattled speaker Ken Smith is resisting calls to step down in order to break the standoff in State Parliament, and has not ruled out sparking a byelection in his Liberal seat if the Napthine government forces him to move.
Days after shutting down the House after facing a challenge to his authority, a defiant Mr Smith has dug in, suggesting the government should deal with balance-of-power MP Geoff Shaw to end the paralysis on Spring Street.
Mr Shaw’s declaration on Tuesday that he no longer had confidence in the Speaker sent shock waves through Parliament and his decision to vote with Labor to sink the government’s business program has left the Coalition’s legislative agenda in disarray.
But despite pressure to step aside – given he no longer has the support of 44 of 88 lower house MPs – Mr Smith said he would not be bullied by the opposition and declined to rule out quitting politics altogether if he was pushed by those in his own ranks.
”They’re the things I’d face if I had to think about whether I was going to fall on my sword or not,” the 68-year-old MP told The Sunday Age.
”At this particular stage, I’m certainly not prepared to fall on my sword and I don’t think from the government’s point of view, they would particularly want me to. So I think they would have to speak to Mr Shaw.”
Mr Smith has been in politics for 25 years, and while his seat of Bass is considered safe Liberal territory (it is held on a margin of about 12.4 per cent) a byelection would be an unwanted distraction for Denis Napthine, particularly when his tenuous grip on power is already under the spotlight.
However, with Parliament in disarray and the Coalition requiring Mr Shaw’s support to govern, one insider admitted the party ”would much rather fight a byelection there than in Frankston” – a marginal seat held by only 0.4 per cent following a redistribution of electoral boundaries.
Mr Shaw could not be contacted on Saturday, but it is understood that talks have taken place behind the scenes to get him to vote in favour of the government’s business program – which sets out the legislative agenda for the week and allows laws to be passed – when Parliament resumes on November 26.
What is less clear is whether the rogue MP will return his support for Mr Smith, and what he might want in return.
Sources say his demands could include abortion law reform, beefed up security at Parliament, and a privileges committee investigation into the attack he faced from taxi drivers on the steps of Parliament House (something he had sought, but has not received, from the Speaker’s office). Asked if he had spoken to Mr Shaw since last week’s drama, Mr Smith said no, but added: ”My door is always open.”
”If I knew exactly what the problem was, we could probably do something about it, but we can’t find out what it is. Some media have suggested it’s because I referred him to the Ombudsman [for allegedly misusing his parliamentary car] but that was all done through the Whistleblowers’ Act,” Mr Smith said. ”I had no choice.”
The Speaker, who is often accused by Labor of bias, also fired back, accusing the opposition of a ”relentless” campaign of unruly behaviour, partly designed to get rid of him, but mostly because ”then they think they can get rid of the government”.
Liberals are now divided on how to deal with the impasse, which came to a head on Thursday when Mr Smith took the unprecedented step of shutting down the House after Labor tried repeatedly to bring on a vote to test his authority.
With the opposition unlikely to relent, some within Liberal ranks believe Mr Smith should step aside, while others say they are reluctant to be seen to be caving into Mr Shaw’s demands.
”There’s a lot of anger, even out in the branches,” one source said.
”Rank-and-file members feel he’s given his middle finger to the party and that a good government could go down because of his shenanigans.”
Others thought differently.
”Ken should go, it’s not going to get any better,” one MP said. ”He was appointed by Ted [Baillieu], Denis inherited him, but in the end he’s had a really good run.”
