How embarrassing: When your team goes AWOL and everyone notices

To all the women who’ve had a crap week at work, spare a thought for Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.

Last night for the first time in more than 50 years, the Government lost a vote in the House of Representatives. Then they lost another. And another.

Three consecutive votes went Labor’s way, after a number of Coalition members left work for the week, and another apparently went for a stroll. 

Turnbull’s tiny majority faced its first big test and failed, as the Opposition took advantage of the lack of numbers in the house and voted against Parliament adjourning at the usual time of 4:30pm.

It’s been a rocky week for the Government, especially as the vested interests of those within his own team come to the fore, notably via of a number of male Senators.

Earlier this week, Liberal Senator Cory Bernardi got all but one of his fellow Senate backbenchers to sign a motion aiming to change the wording of Section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act, something Turnbull had previously said was not a priority.

But nothing could be worse than in your first week in Parliament seeing your so-called mandate to govern come so quickly undone due to the actions of a few MPs.

Last night Coalition MPs had to be brought back from the airport and other places to halt Labor’s succession of winning votes. They arrived back in time to prevent a fourth – calling on a Royal Commission into banking and finance.

So who’s fault is it when people don’t show up for an essential aspect of their work? Is it the Government Whip or the individual no-show MPs, or the Leader of the House, Christopher Pyne? Surely, this one’s the main team leader’s responsibility — as it would be in any team in business.  

Malcolm Turnbull should take it as a lesson. As Tony Abbott told reporters: “Whether you’re a journalist, a member of Parliament, a government whip, or even a Prime Minister, all of us are learning lessons all the time.”

Good to know.

It also shows that in certain aspects of work, micromanagement might be necessary after all. As independent Bob Katter noted: “Now every Liberal member can not go to the bathroom.”