SA Liberal defects to Labor over Abbott agenda

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Wowsers, the great Australian adjustment claims another scalp. From The Australian:

FORMER South Australian Liberal leader Martin Hamilton-Smith has declared himself an independent and will become a minister in the Labor government.

The decision by the opposition MP to take the portfolios of investment and trade, defence industries and veterans affairs will boost the Weatherill Labor government’s slim parliamentary majority.

…Labor, re-elected for a fourth term in March, will now have a majority of two in the 47-seat lower house, including the support of independent Geoff Brock.

…“I’m not so much focused on the politics of finger-pointing and rock-throwing, what I’m focused on is making a contribution. I have something to offer.’’

…“We want to build things; we don’t want to rip them down. And I can’t see how the uncertainty and the political point scoring over coming months and years will help kids, the pensioners,’’ he said.

That looks like a wholesale rejection of the Abbott agenda: close down cars, punish the young and restrict pensions.

About the author
David Llewellyn-Smith is Chief Strategist at the MB Fund and MB Super. David is the founding publisher and editor of MacroBusiness and was the founding publisher and global economy editor of The Diplomat, the Asia Pacific’s leading geo-politics and economics portal. He is also a former gold trader and economic commentator at The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, the ABC and Business Spectator. He is the co-author of The Great Crash of 2008 with Ross Garnaut and was the editor of the second Garnaut Climate Change Review.