Don’t wait for the next challenge, Malcolm. Call an election now!
It would be safe to say that, as a prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull has been a disappointment. Displacing Tony Abbott, as he did in 2015, was supposed to be a new start, correcting the bizarre image of a bumbling, buffoon leading the country.
That’s how it was supposed to be.
Malcolm was seen as a move to a more statesman-like candidate, one who would not embarrass us either here or overseas. We had every right to expect, not just a more polished, professional approach to government and recognition of much needed social reform, but also a more mature approach to tackling the issues of climate change and energy.
The one social reform he did give us was same-sex marriage, but its execution was akin to extracting teeth while simultaneously amputating a limb after the patient had woken from the anaesthetic and fallen off the operating table. In other words, it was a horrible, bloody mess.
Since then, Malcolm has failed miserably in achieving anything of note during his three-year reign. He had an opportunity to be the man to drag the Liberal party out of the 19th century and effectively blur the line between Liberal and Labor party policies.
He could have been so effective, that Labor would have struggled to display its more socially-minded platform. He could even have surpassed John Howard’s tenure as prime minister.
So what went wrong?
For some inexplicable reason, Turnbull, in many ways a leftist, chose to be a prisoner of his party’s hard right. This hard right conservative element, led by Tony Abbott, operates in tandem with the highly sinister, clandestine group known as the Institute of Public Affairs (IPA).
It is so committed to turning back the clock, socially, industrially and religiously, it has lost sight of the principles that gave its party’s founder, Sir Robert Menzies, the legacy he enjoys today.
And Malcolm Turnbull has done its bidding from day one. As the saying goes, “if you lie down with dogs, you get up with fleas.” There should be another saying that explains how, if you don’t cleanse yourself of fleas, even the dogs will desert you.
That’s what is happening to Malcolm now. By sucking up to the hard right he has had to compromise his own belief system and forsake any chance he had of being a great prime minister.
In return, his party have demonstrated their contempt for him, time and time again. They have bullied him from post to post. A drover’s dog could have told him it was never going to end well.
So why would he reward them any further by continuing to lead them? Would he not be well justified in calling an election now and allowing the people to decide if they want this charade to continue? Isn’t that the way bullies should be treated?
Would this not be a way to repay the Liberal party for their treatment of him; reduce their tenure from three years to just two and let that reality sink into their dim-witted brain cells? After all, he has nothing to look forward to, beyond another challenge to his leadership.
Yes, he will lose the election, but would that not be the more honourable thing, rather than sitting around waiting for the next challenge?
Cut your losses, Malcolm. Isn’t that what bankers do?
30 comments
Login here Register here-
New England Cocky -
kampbell -
John O'Callaghan -
John Lord -
Harry -
Ross in Gippsland -
Alpo -
Jon Chesterson -
Jon Chesterson -
Graeme Henchel -
silkworm -
Aortic -
Terence Mills -
Graeme T -
John Boyd -
Jon Chesterson -
Nigel Drake -
Frank Smith -
silkworm -
Kaye Lee -
Kaye Lee -
Intererestedparticipant -
Frank Smith -
John Higgins -
Mark Needham -
jimhaz -
Wayne Turner -
Rhonda -
Pappinbarra Fox -
vicki
Return to home pageWell said … quietly without consulting, call an election now as PM then quietly resign from Wentworth during the election campaign. Let the Liarbral Party rot in its own manure as it did when Gorton resigned to be replaced by MacMahon, the least competent PM since Federation.
I really am just waiting out the clock until this mean, tricky, cruel mob are voted out. Election now.
Yes well said, Turnbull 😂should pull down the big top and end this bloody circus right now by calling an election!
Needs to do a Whitlam.
MT has been treated badly by his ideologically fractured party but as you say John, its largely his own fault. Appeasement never works.
If MT has any sense of decency and spine he would call an election immediately and he would at least re-empt Dutton,knowing the Coalition will be decisively beaten. That’s what they need and the Australian people deserve better than having to put up with the current regime (does not deserve the title of government).
Looking ahead, I hope a Labor government strongly breaks from the neoliberal me-tooism of the recent past.
Politics for Malcolm has always been about Malcolm. His destiny was to be Australian Prime minister. What to do with it and how long it would last never came into it. You would imagine the very thought that he might fail as PM never entered his head, that is not the way his world works.
Alas cold hard reality has struck with a vengeance. Will he do what any red blooded Aussie male would do, call a federal election then immediately resign his seat in act of pure bastardtry to the party he has led so badly? He could and probably should sit back sipping a small glass of ice cold Puligny-Montrachet Premier Cru Les Folatieres in the warm Canary Island sun and watch the Liberal dog fight and bloodletting from afar, most of us in his position would.
To be torn down twice by your own side might just be a bridge too far.
Excellent article, John. I fully agree with you. To save his honour, the Waffler from Wentworth can only call an early election, go to the fight leading, as Dutton will obviously be unable to build enough voters’ consensus around him to face an election right now. Hence he will withdraw his challenge if an election is called.
Then the Waffler will face his destiny, leading the Neoliberal-Conservative mob to their sunset….
The end of an era….
He hasn’t got the balls and I have no sympathy or stomach for a miserable arrogant plutocrat. May he rot in the Liberal trenches along with his vulturous flesh eating dingbats. Never in all these years would I have predicted, nor have I witnessed such a carnivorous and deadly mob of political and corporate zombies as the Liberals… Bang band bang, dead dead dead, no funerals please, let us forget them for good!
Malco dreary Bligh YOU!
UNSCRUPULOUS company fly,
splat in the paddocks
of Trump and Murdoch
bleeding the people dry.
To Canberra sweat and rally go,
bleary ey’d ‘n weary end this show.
https://allpoetry.com/poem/13161632-Malco-Turbo-and-the-Bent-Apostles-by-Barddylbach
Stable Government
I’ve just heard Barrie Cassidy say the conservatives need to refer to John Howard for guidance, which implies that Howard has so far not been involved. However, I have heard both Dutton and Fierravanti-Wells recently refer to Howard in glowing terms, suggesting that he is involved. Fierravanti-Wells has also intimated that the conservatives are stinging about their loss on the same sex marriage issue, and John Howard was a secret mentor to Dutton on the SSM debate, which they lost, so it stands to reason that Howard has been supporting Dutton in the push against Turnbull. We should not discount the fact that it is the bitterness surrounding the SSM issue that is driving all the conservatives at the moment.
Ah the same sex marriage loss and where is John Howard when you need him. Welcome again to 1918 and we should all be glad this war is over. When are these conservative knuckle scraping Neanderthals going to shut up and allow reason and science to prevail? Yeah I know the answer but it doesn’t make me any less annoyed.
The problem that Fierravanti-Wells appears to have is not Malcolm Turnbull but the Australian electorate : she want us voted out !
I had to smile that at the end of the great article by John that the AIMN survey was:
“Do you think there will be a leadership spill in the Liberals before the next federal election?”. Is this meant to be for after the fun and games of yesterday or ….?
I wonder if Malcolm will resign from parliament or sit on the cross-benches when/if he loses the next ballot for leadership? Yes, I believe there will be one and I predict very soon.
‘That’s what is happening to Malcolm now. By sucking up to the hard right he has had to compromise his own belief system and forsake any chance he had of being a great prime minister.’ That’s if you think he has a belief system that involves anyone other than himself. His whole political career shows it.
We are seeing the ‘real’ Turnbull. He has no concept of a social agenda. I am not sure he made brilliant investment decisions. He could have been just lucky. You can’t judge a strategy by its survivors. I think he just woke up one morning and wondered what he could next do to satisfy his ego. ‘I know’, he said to himself, ‘I will be Australia’s first president’. So with a bit of money, he becomes chief of the republican movement, until his mate Howard sank that option with an ever so cleverly worded plebiscite. ‘Oh well’, he thinks, I will be the next prime minister, that would do nicely’. So a bit more investment, help from his mate Scott Morrison, and a jump on the climate change bandwagon, and he is leader of the opposition. So fast forward a bit. Climate change is off the agenda for the Liberal party, so suddenly he is happy to lead a party that does not take climate change seriously. His ‘fabled’ debating skills have deserted him, largely because you usually need at least some facts to back up your position. Suddenly, he is looking a bit past it. The ultimate ‘hollow man’, with no principles or real policies; it’s all just about Malcolm.
Harry I just love that phrase ‘me-tooism’ and yes this is a golden opportunity for a really serious break from the bipartisan fiddle. Lets hope Labor and Shorten have learned that lesson and take matters off the electoral agenda that should never have been there, cease this paralysed politic and get on with the job of good governance for the people. No more populism and no more corruption, we have constitutional responsibilities as a democratic nation and we need to honour them not sell them for corporate pigs and ignorant votes.
“The ultimate ‘hollow man’, with no principles or real policies; it’s all just about Malcolm.”
Concisely and precisely put, John.
Excellent advice to Turnbull, John. Yes, Malcolm, pick up your marbles and go home. Get in the car, go down to Yarralumbla and call an election immediately so the people you yesterday claimed that you were serving are given the opportunity to correct you on that point. And then, do not renominate for Wentworth – we have already had far too much of you in Parliament. As a banker you should know by this that your $1.75 million donation to win the 2016 election was a very bad investment so get out before you cause any further damage.
Yep, the ABC is now reporting an urgent plea for Howard to return to Canberra. LOL.
Ray Hadley reveals Scott Morrison is attempting to put a ticket together with Peter Dutton to run against Malcolm Turnbull, with Dutton as his deputy.
The Australian’s Simon Benson reports that “A number of MPs have confirmed that Ben Morton and Alex Hawke are now openly doing the numbers for Treasurer Scott Morrison”.
From Phil Coorey
Mathias Cormann has just gone into the PM’s office. Could be significant, could be not. Whole joint is febrile
The governor-general has decided to stay in Canberra for the rest of the week. Prudent is the word being used.
Agree, but Turnbull can redeem himself a teeny tiny bit by calling an election now, staying on in caretaker mode as PM and not re-contesting his seat.
He would then go out with a modicum of dignity and deny the far right rump the benefit of one of them being PM, even if one of them was there for only a short period of time. It is time for Turnbull to find a spine and put the boot into them and deny them what they want.
Antony Green states it is not possible for Turnbull to simply go to Gov House and ask the GG to call an election as many of us were hoping for. Parliament must be dissolved and writs issued before an election can be called. Pity!!
See this in the Guardian live feed.
… and today’s Canberra Special is: a free set of steak knives all round … plus a potato peeler thrown in 😂😂
Maladroit has just won his last vote. The last, final.
Sad part is, our next, “Leader”, in that I mean someone who has the clout, nous and where withall, to deliver, is not in sight.
Looking,
Mark Needham
[I am not sure MT made brilliant investment decisions. He could have been just lucky]
I wonder if LNP ministers were pee’d off with his Great Barrier Reef captain’s call/joke.
As for his prior personal investments – it would have been a case of who he knew (as long as you are not an equally big shark but a sucker fish!)
Sadly the most pointless PM EVER is too gutless to do this. He will wimper away like his pathetic winning speech after the 2016 election.
Turnbull is and has been truly pathetic The current shit show is his just desserts. But we don’t deserve Dutton – we’ve all been trumped
I am not racist but…..
I notice Peter Dutton has very brown skin. He doesn’t have an African Gang gene lurking in his DNA by any chance? His behaviour would lend credence to his having a bullying gang style mentality.
This was going to happen because the PM gave in to the fractions too many times, so plain to see this outcome yet what is mystifying is WHY the Media are Not asking the real questions, like Why now? when the PM was set on making an electricity CAP? What are their personal kick backs from big Corps more Important than what is GOOD for ALL Australians? Ofcourse it is, otherwise We wouldn’t be here now, let alone Illegal Legalisation bought in by the PM to appease those that have now bit him on the arse.