ANALYSIS
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What must the bereft families of Geoffrey Keaton, Andrew O'Dwyer and Samuel McPaul have thought when they arrived at Parliament House for a day of condolences on Tuesday, only to find the occupants of the building thoroughly preoccupied with making grief for each other?
On a day that was supposed to be devoted to the loss, anguish and resilience of Australians during this black summer, Barnaby Joyce was rubbing sticks together, ready to burn down his own party room in order to become king out of the ashes.
How humiliating for our federal parliamentarians that NSW Rural Fire Service chief Shane Fitzsimmons - who has been stoically stewarding his state through the bushfire crisis - saw them behaving this way.
Perhaps it was the smoke that rolled in on Monday night from bushfires still burning out-of-control to Canberra's south that clouded the National Party's collective judgement.
It would certainly explain why Matt Canavan, who began Monday pledging his support for Michael McCormack, ended it by throwing his lot in with his former leader - with a hazy explanation about a possible breach of ministerial standards tacked on the end.
It didn't need to be this way. The Nationals could have quickly and cleanly filled the void created by deputy Bridget McKenzie's resignation, without the distracting sideshow of a leadership spill.
The Greens also replaced a leader on Tuesday without the destruction.
Instead, everyone came away a little singed. While McCormack survived the encounter, he is damaged.
Joyce was correct when he said regional Australians needed a champion.
But as Anthony Albanese quipped, if Barnaby Joyce is the answer, what the hell is the question?
Joyce says the failed coup has cleared the air.
While this may be true, it also sucked up all the oxygen on a day when the most important people in the building were not the ones shouting at one another in the chamber, but those sitting quietly in the gallery.
It also demonstrated that while the Nationals may rail against the Canberra bubble, they are not above a bit of self-indulgence either.