Opposite Day at Parliament as Libs let Kelly off the hook

State Parliament returned on Tuesday and wasted no time going from the ridiculous to the bizarre.

The Opposition failed to ask a single question of the Government’s wounded Fisheries Minister Dave Kelly.

And the Premier went from laughing off the whole Huawei rail contract “reds under the beds” controversy to wrapping himself in the Australian flag — metaphorically speaking — promoting his military background and labelling Liberal leader Mike Nahan a “foreign citizen”.

Both were tactical blunders.

Kelly was sitting in the Legislative Assembly twiddling his thumbs for two days after overseeing one of the most humbling policy capitulations in the McGowan Government’s relatively short period in power.

Rather than turning a blowtorch on the minister for mangling an attempt to take over part of the crayfish industry, the Liberals tried to line up the Premier for performing policy backflips.

McGowan was ready and rattled off a string of backdowns under the previous government.

Remember MAX light rail, anyone?

What the Opposition should have done was exploit the embarrassment that Kelly, a proud and powerful factional player in the Labor Party, was feeling after being forced to cave in to the “claws off our crayfish” campaign.

There are Labor MPs in the Parliament who believe they could do a better job than Kelly, and the Opposition missed a chance to make him squirm — and possibly say something unhelpful to a Government on the back foot.

The way Kelly tried to claim as a victory the complete abandonment of the move to seize 1700 tonnes of crayfish from the industry was cringe-worthy.

He, and possibly others, had led the Premier up a garden path and further dented the Government’s credibility, which was already weakened by a series of other surrenders.

McGowan is looking like a soft touch and Kelly’s lobster folly has contributed to that.

The Opposition should have used question time on Tuesday to rub salt into the latest wound with a series of questions about the minister’s mishandling of the issue, such as:

Was it your decision, minister, or the Premier’s to back down on the crayfish quota grab?

Which part of losing 1000 tonnes of crayfish from the so-called agreement you had with the Western Rock Lobster Council represents a victory for the Government?

Has your smart drum line backdown and crayfish quota backflip damaged your Government’s credibility? If not, why not?

On the question of credibility, it was baffling to watch McGowan engage in patriot games during the latest debate about the Huawei communications contract for our rail network.

As Nahan and his deputy, Scarborough MP Liza Harvey, continued their sometimes painful exploration of the Huawei deal, they called on the Premier to table any advice the Government received from the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation.

That was never going to happen, but the questions are starting to niggle McGowan, judging from his overreach in Parliament.

“The member for Scarborough is promoting a very odd position,” he said. “It is also very odd that she is sitting next to the Leader of the Opposition, who is a foreign citizen with a tax bill to a foreign government. Seriously.”

But pointing out that Nahan was born in Michigan was not the end of it.

“I am an ex-naval officer representing this country,” McGowan said.

“The Minister for Tourism served the country in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Minister for Housing has served this country as well.”

What that has to do with whether a Chinese-owned company can be trusted to run a rail network’s radio system is anyone’s guess. The fact that Nahan is originally from the US is also irrelevant.

If the Premier does not believe the Opposition is delivering any telling blows on his Government’s decision to sign a contract with Huawei, then why go down the flag-flying, nationalist path?

As the debate was raging about McGowan’s position on Huawei, we learnt something new about what is acceptable in Parliament.

“Take your hands out of your pockets,” Tourism Minister and ex-SAS operative Paul Papalia hollered at Nahan.

“You will withdraw that remark,” threatened Speaker Peter Watson. “It is unparliamentary and I call you to order for the first time.”

Heaven forbid anyone suggests an MP straightens their tie.