INDEPENDENT Rob Oakeshott has turned his back on becoming Speaker of the House of Representatives and backed a Liberal for the job.
This is a bid to avoid a Mexican stand-off in parliament and the threat of a fresh election, The Australian reports today.
As the Gillard government awaited legal advice on the parliamentary reform deal that would allow the Speaker to be "paired" for votes, Mr Oakeshott emerged from a meeting with Tony Abbott yesterday and said he was now "reluctant" to accept a nomination for the role.
The NSW independent had put himself forward for the job, arguing the deal he had forced with Labor and the Coalition would allow him to be "paired", ensuring the Speaker's vote was cancelled out by a member with the opposition position.
The opposition and legal experts had expressed concern that the move would breach the Constitution and would invite a legal challenge.
Mr Oakeshott said that, as support was "shifting", he was not prepared to put his name forward to be Speaker.
Mr Oakeshott last night expressed fears that parliament could be deadlocked next week when it resumed sitting if neither the government nor the opposition offered a candidate for Speaker, and neither offered to support a member from the other side.
If the parliament is unable to elect a Speaker, it becomes unworkable and raises the threat of an immediate election.
Mr Oakeshott said his "pairing" arrangement had been designed to "dodge the bullet" where no-one would accept the position.
He said he was now looking to the Coalition to fill the role.
Last week, the Opposition Leader backed the current Speaker, Labor's Harry Jenkins, while Julia Gillard has not yet nominated Labor's preferred candidate for the position.
After meeting Mr Abbott in Sydney late yesterday, Mr Oakeshott said Mr Abbott had "agreed to come back within 24 hours on the issue of a Liberal MP in the speaker's chair".
He said that was "something I would strongly consider endorsing as a step towards the Westminster model of a truly independent speaker".
"I look forward to a positive response," he said.
Last night, senior MPs said Mr Oakeshott had acted before the government received the Solicitor-General's advice on whether it was constitutionally possible for him to become speaker and still have a vote on specific legislation.
It's understood the Coalition had not entirely given up the idea of supporting Mr Oakeshott if the legal advice suggested it was possible for him to be "paired" during debates.
The government's Leader of the House, Anthony Albanese, left open future negotiations with Mr Oakeshott and the Coalition.
"Labor will be considering our position, consistent with our continuing support for parliamentary reform," Mr Albanese said.
The manager of opposition business, Christopher Pyne, on the weekend called on the government to provide legal advice on whether Mr Oakeshott's plan to "pair" the speaker would breach the Constitution.
He said negotiations over the parliamentary reform deal were not predicated on an independent such as Mr Oakeshott becoming speaker.
Last night on the ABC's 7:30 Report , Mr Oakeshott said the parliamentary reform agreement had always relied on goodwill but there appeared to be some "shifting"of support on the issue.
Last week, constitutional lawyer Geoff Lindell raised doubts about the validity of key parts of the parliamentary reform agreement over the powers of the speaker.
Legal academic Greg Craven, the vice-chancellor of the Australian Catholic University, also argued that the parliamentary reform agreement ran contrary to the intention of the Constitution.
"What the agreement does is allow the Speaker almost to vote negatively by taking one vote off one side of parliament," he said.
This meant the parliamentary reform agreement was pushing against the intention of the Constitution.
