Politics

A government that had hoped to undermine the national consensus about the preciousness of our reef found that these people, this nation, is not for turning.

What will give Turnbull a freer hand is his performance as measured in the opinion polls. The early signs are ominous for Labor and the hard right.

Shorten would act as a managerial leader, rather than a policy obsessive with a penchant for micromanaging ministers and staffers.

This issue can never shake its racist and xenophobic undertones. Abbott is to be commended for taking no notice of those in his party room on the extreme right.

The conclusion has become inescapable that Hockey is either too thick for the job or too arrogant to get any perspective on his poor performance and fix it.

Arthur Sinodinos gave the ministerial disunity story a huge blast of oxygen. He would not have done so without full knowledge of the ramifications.

Already, the Liberals appear not to see Abbott as a plus. He doesn’t feature in their campaign material for the seat of canning. Julie Bishop is the big attraction there.

Abbott must now decide, firmly and without second-guessing himself, what it is he wants to achieve in politics.

Abbott’s position is so parlous every challenge his government faces is an acid test. Few doubt the September 19 appointment with Canning’s 110,000 voters will be a moment of truth.

This week I went searching for speeches by Australian politicians that take account of the pace of change, and talk about preparing for it. They were few and far between.