WHEN Prime Minister Scott Morrison headed overseas for the G7, it was not in the absence of pressing issues requiring attention on the home front.
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The pandemic rages on around the world, and recent outbreaks in Victoria, Queensland and NSW have shown the price a lack of vigilance can exact. The vaccine rollout remains embattled, particularly with changes to the advice around AstraZeneca for those over 50. As ever, other issues proliferate.
Lower on the agenda, one would expect, was the leadership of junior Coalition partner the Nationals. By noon on Monday, it had likely climbed far higher among the priorities after Barnaby Joyce, who stepped aside as leader in 2018, deposed Michael McCormack as deputy prime minister.
What's also clear to see is that political ambition remains a potent disruptor in Canberra's halls of power despite a global pandemic that has cost millions of lives and its many associated challenges. Labor were quick to allege self-interest. Voters could have been forgiven for hoping the raft of party room coups that felled the likes of Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard, Tony Abbott and Malcolm Turnbull had been consigned to the past, or at least the backburner as so much else consumes the attention of those elected to represent their constituents.
Considered a political maverick, Mr Joyce will have strategists on both sides working hard. Few will have forgotten that he lost the top job in 2018 after a scandal stemming from his extra-marital affair with a staffer who has now given birth to the couple's two children. He also strongly denies allegations of sexual harassment. Rumblings over Mr McCormack had been linked to the government's commitment to reach net zero emissions "preferably" by 2050. China's impact on exports also looms as large as rural worker shortages among the party's traditional base. Nationals MHR Michelle Landry was clear before the spill that she believed leadership games were not the best way to advance the interests important to voters. The challenge for Mr Joyce and those colleagues he elevates or retains in senior roles, is to prove that the noise and fury of Monday was worthwhile for the Coalition.