Harry’s reasons

Harry Jenkins has ended the parliamentary year with a surprise, announcing he will resign as Speaker today:

In a statement to Parliament, Speaker Jenkins said he’d divorced himself from party political matters in order to carry out his duties in a non-partisan manner. “In this era of minority government I have progressively become frustrated at this stricture,” he said. “My desire is to be able to participate in policy and parliamentary debate, and this would be incompatible with continuing in the role of Speaker.”

Which is no huge deal if that’s all there is to it. But with the rift between Deputy Speaker Peter Slipper and his party widening of late – the LNP is presently considering disciplinary action against him – the suspicion exists that the government has reached an arrangement with him. If so, the return of Jenkins to the floor would enable the government to win confidence motions 76-73 rather than 75-74. Stay tuned.

UPDATE: Events are moving quicker than my iPad typing speed. Phillip Coorey of the Sydney Morning Herald reports:

The Liberal MP, Peter Slipper, is likely to become the next Speaker of the House of Representatives after Labor’s Harry Jenkins resigned this morning, shocking the Parliament on its final sitting day for 2011. Labor MPs will be asked to approve Mr Slipper’s nomination at a special caucus meeting scheduled for 10am.

Author: William Bowe

William Bowe is a Perth-based election analyst and occasional teacher of political science. His blog, The Poll Bludger, has existed in one form or another since 2004, and is one of the most heavily trafficked websites on Australian politics.

1,458 comments on “Harry’s reasons”

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  1. Joe. I also believe harry, why do some see sucpicious circumstances for every story,

    Harry comes across as a gentleman and genuine I think he has been looking rather tired of late and

    Of course he wants to spend time with his labor friends at this time in his career, I bet his family are very pleased

  2. [All those holier-than-thou Laborites telling us how they hate the liberals for breaking convention to win power in ’75 can have a little serve back now.]

    How so?

    If Jenkins was pushed, he took one for the team. If he wasn’t pushed, then a man who’s held the Speakership for 4 years, including 18mths in a difficult hung parly situation chose to resign rather than go through the continual stress.

    The House elected Slipper as Speaker. Why is this breaking with traditions?

  3. It should be interesting to see all this upheaval has on the next Essential Poll and Newspoll. I suspect the serious journalists will be digging very deeply tonight in Canberra to find out the respective timelines of who knew what and when.
    Peter Slipper didn’t just invite Kevin Rudd to a school in his electorate as a coincidence. Harry Jenkins didn’t just make up his mind overnight did he?
    I would think Harry was told to go gracefully the minute the full package was finalized with Albo , the PM and the back room gang.
    On top of this Abbott keeps insinuating something is about to break with the Thompson enquiry , I m sure we will find out in the next fortnight.
    Biggest losers today in no particular order are Rudd who will now never get another shot at the title and will know it as a certainty ergo let’s angle for the UN post or ambassadorship. Wilkie had a full house now owns a pair if Queens .
    Lastly Abbott whose mien on 7.30 showed imminent vulnerability to a challenge.It will be extremely difficult to last until 27 September 2013 without a chance of spilling the hung prliament

  4. confessions

    The question should be why Slipper was prepared to resign from his own party today to take the speakership. Of course we knoiw the answer, but Abbott should take the time to answer it.

  5. [victoria
    Posted Thursday, November 24, 2011 at 8:53 pm | Permalink
    Mod Lib

    You really are talking crap. Abbott et al managed to lose Slipper as a member of their party tomorrow. why is that so?]

    There is/was no law against Fraser blocking supply in the Senate, only convention
    It was a tactical move that gained him power

    There is/was no law against Gillard replacing Jenkins with Slipper, only convention
    It was a tactical move that sured up her power

    Same same…

    The only problem will be if there is evidence Jenkins was pushed. Then that could get a little messy. Either way, its not a good look for Gillard, and adds to the damaged ALP brand meme (ie good news for me and the medium to long term Lib prospects…..now we just need to dump Abbott and we are all set)

  6. mod lib @ 797

    You know, you really do talk crap tonight.

    What convention was broken today?

    In the case of Pat “the rat” Field, it was a clear breach of a long standing convention by Bjelke-Petersen.

    What was particularly galling about Colston was that he was the ALP nominee that Bjelke-Petersen refused to accept and instead put Field into the Senate. Whitlam and the ALP refused to withdraw Colston as Bjelke-Petersen demanded.

    Loyalty was repaid with treachery. That is why Colston is particularly despised.

  7. [Every time we hear about Fraser breaking convention in 1975 we now have ammo]

    Except there is no convention being broken in this instance. It’s hard to call something a ‘Westminster’ convention when it’s not even followed in Westminster itself!

    Other countries who could be described as having a ‘Westminster’ system routinely appoint non-Government Speakers. For instance, in Canada it is only after the Conservatives recent majority government win that they’ve appointed a Speaker from their own ranks. The past two terms, they’ve allowed an Opposition member to remain in the chair.

  8. [Why is this breaking with traditions?]

    No federal government in living memory has elected a speaker that wasn’t part of the government.

  9. Firth makes an interesting argument against primaries style preselections for ALP candidates: when your membership is so small there is no guarrantee the selection represents the broad base attractive to the wider electorate. She said wtte that you’d end up in most cases with 17 people deciding who the candidate will be.

    I don’t find this a particularly compelling argument against primaries. Who makes the preselection decision now, and I’d bet it’s less than even 17 people. I say let’s give primaries a go.

  10. My Say,
    Thanks. I still have Ajax and Stamp’s Mum and Dad, they are 11 and 10 yr old, so I still have dogs to hold and cuddle (although I feel very guilty because I lost their kids).
    I pat other dogs but my heart is empty for them, I am sorry to say.
    I have been helping find other people’s dogs via a facebook page Lost Dogs of Adelaide. The other day I saw a post there for a dear little Chihuahua who was found, no collar, microchip etc so I put a free ad in the found section of the paper and I got a call from the owners daughter. The dog was in the pound by then, the owner was a distraught elderly lady and they went and collected it. I told the daughter to get the dear little dog microchipped asap.

  11. [vanOnselenP Peter van Onselen
    Don’t forget, if the Libs hadn’t reneged on the parl reform agreement to pair speakers & deputy spks, Slipper’s move wld change nothing….]

    Good point. Abbott’s intransigence comes back to bite him.

  12. Puff, as one who was told today he mightn’t have a dog at the end of the day, let me tell you I really feel for you right now.

    I’m outraged that your beloved doggies have gone missing. Every time I see you post here about them I know you must be feeling a lot of hurt and pain about it. I’m sure many of the good people here are with you, and wish they could help.

    Other than that I don’t know what to say except that I’m sure we wish we could share your pain and sense of longing a little more than in just words.

    Go well, Puff, I hope sincerely there’s a happy end to the story.

    Best,

    BB.

  13. Mod Lib

    Anyone who has observed QT in the past year, would not be surprised that Harry resigned. He has been totally frustrated and tired in his role as speaker

  14. Mod Libs,

    The Poms did it with the current Speaker who was a Conservative elected by Labour.

    Our Westminster traditions are derived from the British Parliament.

  15. The deputy vote went 71-70 what was the vote for the speaker’s position?

    How did the Indies vote in both of these votes? Wilkie and his pokies thing is obviously in jeapardy now too so I wonder what he will do…

  16. [No federal government in living memory has elected a speaker that wasn’t part of the government.]

    But we haven’t had a minority fed govt in living memory either.

  17. [The deputy vote went 71-70 what was the vote for the speaker’s position?]

    A one vote margin as well – can’t remember exactly.

    The Speaker ballot is secret.

  18. No federal government in living memory has elected a speaker that wasn’t part of the government.

    No federal government in the living memory of anyone under 70 has been faced with a hung parliament.

  19. [This is gold for me GG. All those holier-than-thou Laborites telling us how they hate the liberals for breaking convention to win power in ’75 can have a little serve back now.]

    What on earth are you on about, ML. Power hasn’t really changed. We still have a minority government. All that happened is that a Lib became an Independent because his Party decided to dump him for an ex Lib pollie. Around the same time a Labor speaker decided he’d had enough so the Deputy Speaker, who just happened to be on the outer with his Party, stepped in to fill the possie of Speaker.

    Simple really. There was no Rupert Murdoch in the wings convincing a PM and the GG to dump a Government.

  20. [The deputy vote went 71-70 what was the vote for the speaker’s position?]

    The Deputy vote actually went 72-71. I suspect the crossbenchers all abstained, based on those numbers.

    Slipper was unopposed. (Although, Pyne tried to nominate half the ALP, none of them accepted the nom)

  21. [victoria
    Posted Thursday, November 24, 2011 at 9:03 pm | Permalink
    Mod Lib

    Anyone who has observed QT in the past year, would not be surprised that Harry resigned. He has been totally frustrated and tired in his role as speaker]

    You think he took a tens of thousands of dollars pay cut because he found sitting in a big chair saying “Order” a few dozen (perhaps hundred?) times per day for about 40 days per year?

    Albo said he had spoken to Jenkins and Slipper many times. I think I can read between the lines (have I become old and cynical already….damn)

  22. Last week Harry congratulated Obama for achieving the kind of order in the House that he (Jenkins) had been aming at for years. That got a laugh.

    BTW, don’t imagine that this is the end of Kevin Rudd. There are two years to go. Anything can happen.

  23. Paul Murray on Sky just said “the numbers will move against the government very soon. She’ll lose her buffer. That’s all I can say. Watch this space”. Thomson perhaps?

  24. Don’t worry guys, you will all be able to point out to me the nastiness of the Liberal party when they wheel out all the dirt they have on Slipper (watch out for it, I have no doubt it is coming) over the next few months. Becomes inevitable now as it will tar this government as well as assisting with revenge against their newfound enemy.

  25. [Longer term:
    1. This will probably be like Kristina K’s proroguing move (will come back to bite ALP)
    2. Every time we hear about Fraser breaking convention in 1975 we now have ammo!!

    Hehe (I know I am evil, but you know its true don’t you???)]
    Wishful thinking there. Most punters don’t even know who Jenkins is/was. They know there is a hung parliament but couldn’t count the numbers. When the few news items they encounter start saying that Labor’s legislation is expected to pass easily then they will get the general impression that government is stable and go back to slumber until election time.

  26. What was the absolutely most disgusting aspect of Bielke-Peterson, the Coalition and Field was it was all done over the body of a dead man. That proved there wasn’t anything to low for them to do to gain power, and not a thing has changed since.

  27. [From memory there was no vote for Slipper as speaker as he was the only nominee]

    Yes, this is correct.

    My short term memory is crap these days!

  28. [Around the same time a Labor speaker decided he’d had enough so the Deputy Speaker, who just happened to be on the outer with his Party, stepped in to fill the possie of Speaker.]

    All very matter of fact except for the fact that when the Speaker resigns the government would normally nominate a replacement (it doesn’t have to be the current deputy) and they would normally nominate someone from their own party.

    I am not questioning the legality of what they did, its perfectly fine.

    Quite cunning actually.

    But it certainly is the convention and it certainly was broken, and you certainly are going to hear about this again!!!! Let me promise you all that.

  29. Mod Lib,

    Sorry comrade. But, I actually know Harry. I can assure you that he is in politics for what he can achieve for his electorate and his community. The baubles of office are anathmatic to this good bloke who is in politics for only the right reasons.

    Your attempts to read between the lines simply demonstrate a typical Liberal propensity to place a price on everything. That’s all you understand.

  30. [How did the Indies vote in both of these votes?]
    There was only one accepted nomination, so there was no vote.

    [Wilkie and his pokies thing is obviously in jeapardy now too so I wonder what he will do…]
    Not necessarily so.

  31. If the new Speaker’s performance this afternoon is any indication, he will not suffer fools, and give clear, short, concise rulings. Which he will stick to.

    Unfortunately, that was part of the reason for Harry’s downfall. He was too soft. He did not enforce his authority as Speaker, and the whole place was a joke.

    The Opposition, in all their hypicrosy today praising Jenkins, took advantage of his softness and bumbling approach, and took advantage of him.

  32. [Don’t worry guys, you will all be able to point out to me the nastiness of the Liberal party when they wheel out all the dirt they have on Slipper (watch out for it, I have no doubt it is coming) over the next few months. Becomes inevitable now as it will tar this government as well as assisting with revenge against their newfound enemy.]

    Wow, you sound just like every Liberal hack circa 2007, when they all were proudly declaring they’ve got dirt to smear Rudd with.

  33. Has everyone forgotten that Slipper was Deputy Speaker and would naturally move up if Jenkins resigned/fell under a bus? I’d say Harry is genuinely pleased to be out of the stressful position.
    I hate the way the media immediately assume conspiracies and dirty deals.
    Some people say that given a choice beteen a conspiracy and a stuff-up, the stuff-up is usually right.
    Abbott stuffed up big time when Harry and Slipper took their positions at the beginning of this parliament, and he stuffed up again when his Lib side moved against Slipper.
    Why does it all have to be Julia’s fault?

  34. What are you trying to say Mod Lib.

    Maintain the rage!!!!!

    The tactical geniuses in the Queensland Liberal party have succeeded in destroying the Queensland branch of the party and have pissed of one of their sitting members to the extent he is now the speaker.

    I suspect the message isn’t that damaging to the Labor party.

  35. Personally I’m rather looking forward to seeing what my “new” Member (since the Fed redistribution shifted me from McEwen to Scullin) has to say about matters of substance now that he’s thrown off the chains of speakership. Well done Harry!

    It is, of course, almost unfathomable that the Libs were stupid enough to so regularly and publicly diss one of their own in a “hung” parliament as they’ve been with Peter Slipper. WTF did they think would happen???

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