Nationals senators to ‘do time’ for hate laws split
A group of Nationals senators who defected from the Liberals to vote against hate speech laws are expected to lose their positions in Opposition Leader Sussan Ley’s shadow cabinet.
Senior National senators Bridget McKenzie, Ross Cadell and Susan McDonald, along with bench member Matt Canavan, voted against Labour’s hate crimes bill in the Senate on Tuesday night.
The move contrasted with voting in favor of the laws at a party room meeting on Sunday, after the coalition pledged to work with Anthony Albanese in response to the December 14 Bondi terror attack.
But just 20 minutes before the vote on the legislation began in the Senate, National Party leader David Littleproud issued a statement saying his party would vote against the bill unless changes to guarantee greater protection against unintended consequences on freedom of expression were not successful.
Senator Cadell said he accepted he had real fears about the legislation and had broken away from the solidarity of the shadow cabinet.
“I am prepared to face the consequences of my actions,” he told reporters in Canberra on Wednesday.
“I think it’s fair. This is what I have to do. I can’t commit the crime if I’m not prepared to pay the time.”
“If more people stood up for what they believed in and didn’t play the game, this would be a better place. Australia would be a better country.”
Politicians in the shadow cabinet must adhere to the position agreed upon at the front line.
Senator McKenzie, leader of the National Party in the upper house, said he was “very aware” of parliament’s conventions when pressed if his position was untenable.
“I’m going to do what I’ve always done, try to do my best to continue my career here with integrity,” he told Sky News.
Liberals voted for a hate crimes bill in the lower house on Tuesday, while most in the rural party abstained.
Michael McCormack, the only Nationals MP to vote in favor of the legislation, said he did so because he did not want to “let the perfect become the enemy of the good”.
But he respected his Senate colleagues’ decision to vote against the bill, which failed to enact the changes.
“There were a lot of contracts that were breached this week,” Mr McCormack told AAP.
He said no backbencher meetings had been held to discuss the bill and the coalition joint party room meeting on Sunday had not seen the final draft bill as it had not yet been completed.
“If we want to talk about convention, we should also look at those conventions.”
This marks another flashpoint for Ms Ley’s leadership, whose authority on the coalition’s climate policy has previously been tested.
Conservative Liberals Andrew Hastie and Jacinta Nampijinpa Price are set to resign from the shadow cabinet in 2025, while Ms Ley has previously clashed with Nationals leader David Littleproud over net zero policy.
Deputy Leader Ted O’Brien, one of Ms Ley’s key lieutenants, and controversial leadership rival Angus Taylor did not vote with other Liberals on hate speech laws, instead abstaining from the vote.
Ms Ley has been contacted for comment.
The first two major polls of the year since the Bondi massacre showed One Nation trailing close behind the coalition.
A News Poll for The Australian found Pauline Hanson’s party trailing the coalition’s primary vote by a slight margin.
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