Abbott plays hardball

Tony Abbott is setting out to destabilise the Gillard government.

This became clear yesterday when he  briefly refused  “a pair” for Simon Crean,  who is scheduled to address the National Press Club  in Canberra today, on the government’s plans for rural Australia.

Mr Abbott had told reporters earlier in the day that “the first duty of all Members, including the Prime Minister, is to the Parliament.”

He had said, though, that the Coalition would not be “unreasonable” in granting pairs.

However, his decision to refuse Mr Crean a pair, for that engagement, was far from reasonable.

Mr Crean, who is Regional Affairs minister, was after all,  planning to explain the new government’s plans, for people who live in rural or outback Australia.

These are  – certainly -  issues of great interest to those who live  outside Australia’s capital cities.

Such speeches are quite ordinary – day to day – government business, particularly for new governments.

A pair is a traditional arrangement, under which an MP, who has business outside Parliament, is guaranteed that one member of the opposite party won’t vote, while he or she is away.

This preserves the balance of power established at elections

Mr Crean responded to Mr Abbott’s initial refusal of a pair by accusing him of   “wrecking.”

That accusation was hard to duck. Mr Abbott’s advisers told him that – and he quickly changed his mind.

So Mr Crean’s speech will go ahead,  after all.

The first signal that Mr Abbott gave, though, remains significant.

At the very least, it shows that he intends to play hardball in future.

In short, all bets are off.

Talk of a gentler, more co-operative parliament, in  the minority government’s new term,  has been exposed for what it is.  Talk.

In another significant development yesterday, a Liberal backbencher, Peter Slipper, was chosen as Deputy Speaker in the lower house, winning 78 votes, against his rival, the National’s Bruce Scott, with 71.

Mr Slipper had been supported by the government, while Mr Scott was backed by the Coalition.

The government had wanted Mr Slipper to promise  that wouldn’t support no confidence motions, or block supply.

But Mr Slipper said, after the vote, that he had not given “any commitments.”

Labor emerged from the recent election with a two vote majority, after a Green and four independents decided how they would vote in the new Parliament.