Sometimes all you need is a quick shot of adrenaline to get you through the day. In the same way, sometimes you just need a quick shot of information to inform you. This is the first of probably many quick shot posts.
I have seen some friends questioning who will be the Deputy Prime Minister should Tony Abbott become prime minister after this weekend’s Federal election. This tweet got the conversation rolling.
No, it is not. It’s easy with the Labor Party as we know that Julia Gillard would be Prime Minister and Wayne Swan the Deputy Prime Minister. Because the Liberals and Nationals are on coalition, it works a bit differently.
The Liberal Party and the National Party each have a leader and a deputy. For the Liberals, Tony Abbott is leader and therefore if also the Leader of the Opposition. Julie Bishop is the deputy Liberal leader and Deputy Leader of the Opposition. They get the honour of getting those titles because they are the largest opposition party. Warren Truss is the Leader of the Nationals and Senator Nigel Scullion is his deputy.
Now if the coalition come into power on Saturday, it all changes a bit. Tony Abbot becomes Prime Minister, but Warren Truss becomes Deputy Prime Minister. This is because as part of the coalition agreement it is agreed that the leader of the party with the most seats (always the Liberals) will be Prime Minister and the other leader will be Deputy Prime Minister. Julie Bishop will remain the deputy leader of the Liberal Party and Senator Scullion will remain the deputy leader of the National Party. Now if both Abbott and Truss were unavailable, Julie Bishop would be acting Prime Minister and if all three were unavailable, Senator Scullion would become acting Prime Minster. But that is rare (but did happen to Peter Costello at one stage I believe).
That was clear and concise, wasn’t it?
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