The GG will not save us

Since the prime minister’s ill-advised holiday timing and his government’s mostly inadequate response to a quarter of the country being on fire has prompted some people on Twitter to demand the Governor General – or even the Queen – step in and remove the government.

To all those making such calls, please stop embarrassing yourselves. That’s not how it works and you (should) know it!

The reserve powers of the Governor General do not include sacking the government for being a bunch of dills, nor should they. We had an election seven months ago. We as a nation need to own the fact that collectively, we chose this mob.

If you want to take it up with someone, take it up with your mate who fell for Morrison’s daggy-dad schtick.
Take it up with your neighbour who thought Bill Shorten was arrogant.
Take it up with your relatives who have never owned shares but managed to get spooked over franking credits.
Take it up with the students who re-elected the people who cut their penalty rates.
Take it up with a generation of renters who will probably never own property who were convinced changes to negative gearing would be bad for them.
Take it up with the shops and taxis that play 2GB all day, the airports that show Sky News, the cafes that provide the Herald Sun.

You may not have voted for this but enough of us did. We need to learn from it.

What we need to learn is you don't get a do-over whenever we feel like it. We’re stuck with this shit show for another 2 and a half years because of decisions we made last May. Remember this in 2022. You might also remember this next time people start advocating 4-year fixed terms.

The only way the Governor General could justifiably intervene would be if Labor and the crossbenchers combined in the Senate to block supply, forcing a 1975-style crisis. There are several problems with this scenario:

1: Labor would need to grow a spine. It would also force them to abandon their sense of injustice over 1975.
2: All the crossbenchers would need to resolve to work together with the opposition.
3: Parliament would need to be sitting, which is hardly ever these days.
4: Most importantly, it’s not a responsible course of action to throw the country into a constitutional crisis at the same time as we’re fighting a bushfire crisis. The government would much rather be playing politics than addressing the real crisis, and the first thing they would do is spin it that the opposition is blocking funding for emergency responses, which would actually be true.
Morrison as prime minister can be replaced, and he possibly will be if he doesn’t lift his game quick smart. But who would replace him? Dutton? Frydenberg? Porter? They would all be worse.

Your vote is for three years, not just a weekend.