Dogwatcher wrote:jo172 wrote: Brock is on record as having said once Bob Such fell ill and took leave he was never going to side with the Libs as they would not have been able to form a stable majority.
Seriously, blaming Marshall for Such's tragic illness is a very long bow.
The 2014 election was an Aristotelian series of events that could only happen to the SA Liberals.
Doesn't that confirm my point? Marshall couldn't form a 'stable majority'. It could only happen to the Libs because they couldn't bring people together and keep people onside. So many disaffected Conservatives have sided with Labor.
Saying I'm blaming Marshall for Such's illness is the actual 'long bow' in this discussion.
It doesn't prove your point at all.
Despite winning 53% of the state-wide vote the Liberals could not form majority government. In fact had they won 55% they were unlikely to form majority government.
Labor did not win majority government either but had 23 seats to the Liberals 22.
Labor needed one of Such or Brock, the Liberals needed both.
Once Such was unable to form government with anyone Brock felt he had no choice as Labor was the only party who would have the numbers on the floor. Had he sided with the Liberals it would have been an absolute tie and the state would have had no government forcing us to another election which was hardly desirable for anyone.
There was no issue of "bringing people together" or "keeping people onside".
Such's illness tied the Liberals hands behind their back in the chaos that followed the 2014 election. There was no negotiating or anything else (short of convincing Such to step down earlier which wasn't an option for obvious reasons) that could have been done about it.