Parliament House is no stranger to rushing.
It's a building that's fuelled on it. When the bells ring, politicians rush to vote.
But in the last week, bells have had little to do with the rushing going on within the federal National Party. It's been more about rushing to cameras than it has been about rushing to agree to net zero carbon emissions by 2050.
And so it was to be again late yesterday, as the Deputy Prime Minister and Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce rushed out in front of the cameras to commit his party, at least in principle, to that climate pledge.
"This is not going to go all night because you've got to make the six o'clock news," Joyce said when he took questions at his 5:40pm press conference.
Here stood Joyce, his deputy David Littleproud and Senate leader Bridget McKenzie.
Their mugs made it onto the news but the details of what they got in return for their support was lacking — it's something this trio was in no rush to divulge.
Morrison gets what he wanted from the Nationals
Liberal Prime Minister Scott Morrison is able to hold that role because he governs in coalition with Joyce's Nationals.
It's why Morrison, whose Liberals largely backed net zero, needed the Nationals on board for him to pay the price of admission at next week's global climate conference, known as COP 26, in Glasgow, Scotland.
Net zero is the minimum countries are expected to back in Glasgow, where pressure will be on leaders to set more ambitious targets for 2030.
Secrecy has long shrouded the deal the leaders of the Liberal and National parties strike, the so-called Coalition agreement, which oversees how they govern together.
In what could be dubbed Coalition Agreement 2.0, the Climate Edition, we know the Nationals have scored something from the Liberals, because Joyce, Littleproud and McKenzie were keen to spruik that's what they'd achieved.
But what's in it or the cost — which some have speculated could be in the tens of billions of taxpayer dollars — will remain in the dark, at least until the Cabinet signs off on an agreement in the coming days.
Joyce likes to dub the Nationals the "most democratic party" in the parliament. Even if that's the case, it's clearly not the most transparent.
This is a party, after all, that refuses to announce the votes in leadership ballots, the most recent of which returned Joyce to the nation's second-highest office.
Joyce will again, at least temporarily, run the country as the acting PM when Morrison heads to Europe later this week.
That trip means Joyce will be the acting PM as his government signs up for net zero — a policy he long spoke out against when on the backbench.
Boots made for walking
The soles on the RM Williams boots the Nats like to wear have been given a solid working-out this last week as they rushed through the building heading into closed-door party meetings.
They've done a lot of walking through courtyards with cameras in them — Deidre Chambers, what a coincidence.
Most in the government expected the two parties would strike a deal before the PM flew out.
But getting there was never going to be easy for the Coalition, with the Nationals eager to be seen to be fighting.
Their leader knows all too well the challenge some in his party will face in their electorates, where independents, Shooters, One Nation and Clive Palmer candidates will be eager to frame them as unable to stand up to Morrison's Liberals.
While the Nationals who had pushed for the party to back net zero celebrated yesterday, Joyce opted against speaking to the opportunities the deal would bring the regions.
Instead, he used his time in front of the cameras to send a message to those who had been against the policy, both in his party room and beyond.
"Standing up for them is not standing outside. Standing up for them is making sure that you're in the room where the decision is being made," he said.
"Heroics that have no outcome, heroics that leave nothing but a rhetorical flourish, but leave the person who is hurting in the same position as what they were, is not an outcome the Nationals party room supported."
The decision to back net zero means outspoken frontbenchers — McKenzie and Resources Minister Keith Pitt — have to decide if they're willing to get on board.
They've spent weeks rubbishing the policy and if they can't support it they must head to the backbench, but few in the party expect them to do this.
The question now is, are they walking towards a compromise or away from what they've been saying in recent weeks and months?
Either way, they're clearly in no rush to say.
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMicGh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmFiYy5uZXQuYXUvbmV3cy8yMDIxLTEwLTI1L25hdGlvbmFscy1yZWFjaC1uZXQtemVyby1jbGltYXRlLWRlYWwtYnV0LWRldGFpbHMtcmVtYWluLXNlY3JldC8xMDA1NjQyODLSAShodHRwczovL2FtcC5hYmMubmV0LmF1L2FydGljbGUvMTAwNTY0Mjgy?oc=5
2021-10-24 19:02:23Z
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