The pandemic rages on around the world, and recent outbreaks in Victoria, Queensland and NSW have shown the price a lack of vigilance can exact. The vaccine rollout remains embattled, particularly with changes to the advice around AstraZeneca for those over 50. As ever, other issues proliferate.

Lower on the agenda, one would expect, was the leadership of junior Coalition partner the Nationals. By noon on Monday, it had likely climbed far higher among the priorities after Barnaby Joyce, the New England MP who stepped aside as leader in 2018, deposed Michael McCormack as deputy prime minister through a vote in the Nationals' party room of 21.

Mr McCormack was circumspect beforehand. "Whatever will be will be, the future's not ours to see," he told reporters. The past, however, lays bare a pattern. A previous Nationals spill attempt arrived on the first sitting day of 2020, and was lambasted for taking away from tributes to the many Australians suffering after the bushfires. Many were in the electorates of those caught up in that cut and thrust.

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What's also clear to see is that political ambition remains a potent disruptor in Canberra's halls of power despite a global pandemic that has cost millions of lives and its many associated challenges. Labor were quick to allege self-interest. Voters could have been forgiven for hoping the raft of party room coups that felled the likes of Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard, Tony Abbott and Malcolm Turnbull had been consigned to the past, or at least the backburner as so much else consumes the attention of those elected to represent their constituents.

Considered a political maverick, Mr Joyce will have strategists on both sides working hard. Few will have forgotten that he lost the top job in 2018 after a scandal stemming from his extra-marital affair with a staffer who has now given birth to the couple's two children. He also strongly denies allegations of sexual harassment.

Rumblings over Mr McCormack had been linked to the government's commitment to reach net zero emissions "preferably" by 2050. China's impact on exports, including this region's winemakers, also looms as large as rural worker shortages among the party's traditional base.

Nationals MP Michelle Landry was clear before the spill that she believed leadership games were perhaps not the best way to advance the interests important to Nationals voters. "People don't want to hear us talking about ourselves and having leadership challenges," she said. "I, for one, have had an absolute gutful of it all."

Ultimately the challenge for Mr Joyce and those colleagues he elevates or retains in senior roles, is to prove that the noise and fury of Monday was worthwhile for voters.

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