“….He managed to squander the huge reservoir of hope and goodwill that his overthrow of Tony Abbott brought with it. I remember writing so many times in this space about the stupidity of waiting six months to find a tax plan. As various proposals were vanishing off the table as fast as they were thrown on it, Turnbull demonstrated to the nation that, like Peter Sellers in the movie Being There, he wanted the job to complete his CV. Turnbull bogged in a mired his own creation
There was no plan, despite the years he had to prepare one. Indecision became institutionalised as he went out of his way to make his Treasurer, Scott Morrison, look like a weak and vacillating character. This was the man some of us knew. That it would all end in tears was obvious long before Turnbull’s visit to the Governor-General. He thought it a triumph that he could come up with a constitutional trick to get the double dissolution he wanted.
One can only wonder how Turnbull feels now. There will be no joint sitting. The Australian Building and Construction Commission will not pass the new Senate. His track record suggests he will do anything to hang on to the job.
If I were a senior Liberal I would make sure that the PM was in the company of other Liberals when he tried to put in place a regime to cling to power. To Malcolm, nothing is more sacred that his own prestige.
The end result of the PM’s canny manoeuvring over a double dissolution has led us to a point where government will become incredibly difficult.
You would need to be a truly gifted negotiator to be able to reconcile the competing demands of the unruly rabble that he has created and must now subdue.
Forming a government with a reasonable chance of short-term stability is one thing, but governing is another thing entirely. Just how does Morrison put up a tough budget and get most of it passed? Any thought of decent structural reform is now out the window.
Good government has been sacrificed at the altar of one man’s ambition.
Now all we can do is hope that Turnbull can clean up the horrible mess of his own creation.
Turnbull has been terminally wounded. He will limp on for a while but you wouldn’t put your house on his political longevity….”