Tony Abbott’s behaviour in recent weeks is throwing up pretty compelling evidence that he is poised to rush to the polls as soon as he thinks he has a better than even chance of winning.
The last thing the PM wants is a genuine consensus on the asylum-seeker issue. His entire life in politics has been based on encouraging and fanning division.
Nowhere does the ‘hook or by crook’ doctrine reveal itself more dramatically than in the mounting evidence that the government is now in the people-smuggling business.
Just look at how Abbott disarmed the country and renamed the Clean Energy Act the 'carbon tax'. It was a very precise exercise in the control of public discourse.
Both the public and the Liberal backbench get confusing signals about the government’s policy. That suggests either genuine tension between Abbott and Hockey, or a failure to get media strategies lined up.
The people advocating a nuclear South Australia have no comprehension of genetics, radiation biology, oncology and medicine. Or they are willing to ignore the risks.
Half a billion dollars has been saved by stopping the boats, says the budget. That’s dwarfed by the $913 million a year that implementing the policy is still costing.