From John Lyons yesterday:
As a matter of urgency, Malcolm Turnbull needs to solve “the Abbott problem.”
Could the answer be to appoint Tony Abbott the next Governor-general?
That was the suggestion today by prominent columnist Miranda Devine.
…Malcolm Turnbull is currently engaging in a flurry of policy announcements to try to dispel the sense in the community that this government — this country — is drifting into dangerous economic waters.
…While it appears that Turnbull is trying to be seen to be executing an agenda, there’s a ghost in the room that continues to haunt him — Tony Abbott.
In media terms, Abbott is everywhere.
…Malcolm Turnbull, for one, said today: “You never, ever speculate on vice-regal matters, even if it’s as fascinating a suggestion as Miranda has made,” he told David Koch on the Seven Network’s Sunrise.
In my opinion, I don’t think that the Governor-general’s position is the solution.
…I think Turnbull should make Abbott the Minister for Defence — firstly, he would do the job very well and secondly it would make it difficult for Abbott to be firing shots across the bows of the government every day or two.
This is the political calculus of a lost party.
I’ll tell you what will happen if Do-nothing Malcolm appoints Tony Abbott Governor General. Coalition polls will fall as the nation exhales at some mid-point between horror and ennui. It does not want Do-nothing Malcolm. Giving it Tony Abbott as well is a double-headed leadership carbuncle of agonising proportions. Abbott’s troglodyte pronouncements will mushroom and Do-nothing Malcolm will appear more the political hack than ever, prepared to sell his mother to stay in power.
For the edification of Coalition hacks, the following line is the key to what’s going on: “Turnbull is trying to be seen to be executing an agenda”. That cuts through to the banal reality that the Coalition is led by a hollow suit and everyone now knows it.
It’s the same reason why Labor doesn’t have the 20 point polling lead that it should. Bill Shorten is also a political hack, the Kingslayer behind the assassination of two prime ministers.
This is the irony of the situation. The Coalition won power largely because the Gillard Government lacked legitimacy. As it turned out, the nation hated what it got in the bargain. Do-nothing Malcolm had a small window in which to illustrate that his assassination of Abbott was in the national interest but he blew it spectacularly because, as it turned out, he only did it for himself and was pretty much a policy-free zone.
Desperate political advisers, spin doctors and number crunchers by definition cannot fix a problem of illegitimacy in government. The more that they try the more that substance slips through their fingers. They are the problem not the solution. Do-nothing Malcolm is finally pushing towards policy centrism but it’s too late and instead of being a leader of substance he transparently “appears” to be “trying to be seen to be executing an agenda”. Talk about damning.
But that is only half of his problem. The other half is worse. Off Turnbull’s right shoulder is One Nation, a party of pure substance. Indeed, its milieu is so visceral that it’s mindless ramblings and policy retardation are appealing to punters.
Hilariously today, Do-nothing Malcolm funds himself again facing rebellion in the ranks, this time on a policy area that really is at the heart of his opponents motivations, via The Australian:
Government MPs are threatening a budget-day showdown over Malcolm Turnbull’s education funding overhaul, as one of the nation’s most senior Catholics, Sydney Archbishop Anthony Fisher, warns that Catholic schools could face forced closures, larger class sizes and higher fees.
Liberals and Nationals broke ranks yesterday to vent their anger over the $18.6 billion funding reform, as they brace for a partyroom meeting on Tuesday that could overshadow the Prime Minister’s attempts to use the budget to reset the political agenda.
The education changes retain the Gonski needs-based funding model but some schools will lose money, leading MPs to fear any Mark Latham-style hit list will lead to an electoral backlash.
Funding for 24 elite private and Catholic schools will go backwards, while 353 schools will get a lower share and 9000 mostly government schools will receive more as the government seeks to level the playing field for all schools, regardless of sector, over a decade.
Tony Abbott warned that the “very big” policy change, which had not yet gone to the partyroom, would be “pretty vigorously debated” when Coalition MPs meet next week, hours before the release of the budget.
A mission from god no less.
Do-nothing Malcolm is trapped and whichever way he goes the worse it will get.
