Crossing the floor is not much of a political issue, but a moral dilemma – the main reason why the media gave Barnaby several slaps on the wrist. Floor-crossing isn’t merely about unorthodoxy in the political arena, but more explicitly, because parties demand a wealth of loyalty and respect to look like some perfectly unified family portrait.
A great commentary by Laurie Oakes takes an unusual stand on the art of the floor-crossing, defending the “free-thinking conscience” as a matter of principle which “should be praised, not bagged”. For that reason, he writes the following about Joyce:
“The outrage evident at senior levels of the government over his crossing of the floor is just another indication of the contempt an increasingly arrogant executive has for parliament and parliamentary processes.”
Another interesting fact is that crossing the floor is not as eccentric as we are led to believe. A document by the parliamentary library sheds light on how frequent parliament has come across the art (arguably right) of cross-flooring and its effects since 1950 (“Crossing the floor in the Federal Parliament 1950-2004”).
Interestingly, Robert Hill is among the “most frequent corss-floorers,” having committed the ‘crime’ 10 times. Or Ron Boswell, who voiced his hatred over Barnaby’s misdeed, crossed floors 6 times on various issues. Oakes adds that “Philip Ruddock, Amanda Vanstone, Eric Abetz, Peter McGauran, Warren Truss and De-Anne Kelly are other ministers who have done what Joyce is now being vilified for doing”.
It’s even been said that cross-flooring is a truly Australian thing. Including vilification of it, apparently. The question, however, remains as to why Barnaby has been singled out and targeted by the media. Is it because he disrupted Howard’s control of both houses? This topic is worthy of PhD thesis.
