Barnaby Finally Crosses the Floor

Oh, they called him Barnaby Rubble and Back Down Barnaby, but last night, without any fanfare, and on a vote on a relatively obscure piece of legislation regarding the ACCC's ability to have the final say on company mergers, he did it - `maverick' Nationals senator Barnaby Joyce crossed the floor.

Let me be the first one to say: WOOHOO!

Crossing the floor is not a new phenomenon, nor a cataclysmic one - at least usually. Just off the top of my head, I can think of a few notable floor crossings - former Veterans Affairs blunderer Danna Vale putting a rare foot right to vote against mandatory sentencing of juveniles in the Northern Territory springs to mind. But when the government holds the balance of power in the Senate by the slender, tenuous thread of aforementioned maverick Nationals senator? Are we sorry we ignored Steven Fielding now, people?

Barnaby's stroll took away from what was in a sense a bigger story - Education Minister Brendan Nelson's decision to defer the vote on the Voluntary Student Unionism legislation until at least next year. This comes after yesterday's revelations, published in The Australian, that the government knew the plans would disadvantage students on low incomes (well duh). Nevertheless, it's too early to roll up those anti-VSU banners yet - like IR, this is an issue Howard is determined to push through. As Labor's Jenny Macklin put it, speaking on AM this morning VSU is a `totemic issue' for the Liberal Party. It's no mere rejig of the Trade Practices Act. However, should the legislation fall over, it would be a major victory for Labor's controversial position on the issue, which has involved withdrawing in-principle support for compulsory student unionism in the hope that dissidents such as Joyce will side with them on a compromise deal. Let's hope they were on the money ...

And now of course, the $64,000 question: Barnaby, will you be crossing the floor on IR?

In other possibly related news - the press conference John Howard and Peter Costello held today has been much commented on. Their first together since the election. And didn't Costello look chipper?

Does he know something we don't?