If I was Malcolm Turnbull...

[Madden]

He really should have joined the ALP. He's more left wing than Kevin Rudd after all...

[The Man from Bomberland]

Turnbull's dillema is hardly surpring. It's what happens when you have a moderate leading a conservative party. Props to him for exercising his leadership over this but really his reading of the whole situation has been comical at it's best and amateurish at it's worst.

Either way the Liberal Party is more of a rabble now than Labor was during the Crean years.

[billyduckworth]

Turnbull's dillema is hardly surpring. It's what happens when you have a moderate leading a conservative party. Props to him for exercising his leadership over this but really his reading of the whole situation has been comical at it's best and amateurish at it's worst.

Either way the Liberal Party is more of a rabble now than Labor was during the Crean years.

Then going on this theory they need a genuine conservative leader like Tony Abbott!?

[swoodley]

Turnbull's dillema is hardly surpring. It's what happens when you have a moderate leading a conservative party. Props to him for exercising his leadership over this but really his reading of the whole situation has been comical at it's best and amateurish at it's worst.

Either way the Liberal Party is more of a rabble now than Labor was during the Crean years.

Then going on this theory they need a genuine conservative leader like Tony Abbott!?

Yep....a bible bashing hypocrite is just what they need now

[Sismis]

I've gained a lot of respect for Turnbull over the last couple of days. He is doing the right thing for country regardless of the personal impact to himself. I'd rather him leading the country than Rudd ATM.

[MH_Bomber]

These extreme right wing nut cases are trying to get Turnbull to go quietly but he wont and he is right not to.

He knows that the Liberal party will be obliterated completely if they become prisoners of the climate change skeptic and denier lobby. Therefore he is quite willing to put his head on the block now, let them put up or shut up and have a messy leadership challenge. His long term credibility will be not be hurt by his digging on this.

They will put Hockey up as leader, who remarkably isnt part of the denier lobby, they will get trounced by Rudd in the next election and then Turnbull will be able to make a comeback a la Lazarus with a single bypass to reform the Liberal party as a small l party not big L Liberal party.

The irony of this all is that the ETS simply doesnt go far enough. Radical change is needed now to avert more serious climate change.

[Sismis]

The irony of this all is that the ETS simply doesnt go far enough. Radical change is needed now to avert more serious climate change.

This is the sad truth of it.

[billyduckworth]

I've gained a lot of respect for Turnbull over the last couple of days. He is doing the right thing for country regardless of the personal impact to himself. I'd rather him leading the country than Rudd ATM.

I agree. I think he has handled himself pretty well, all things considered. By contrast, Abbott, Minchin and the ultra-conservative climate change deniers have made themselves look ridiculous. I can't possibly see the Liberals winning the next election or even the one after that if they get control of the party.

Hockey is the interesting player in all this. He plays his cards VERY close to his chest. One thing I will say for Tony Abbott is that you know what he stands for (six o'clock closing and the Latin Mass, haha, Filthy). Even if you don't agree with him, you know what he's on about. But what does Hockey believe in? Supposing he became leader and one day PM, what sort of government would he lead? No idea.

One possible way of looking at it is that the Liberals have the choice between someone who clearly stands for something and something that would be in sharp contrast to the government (Abbott) or else someone who will "play it safe" and basically try to beat Rudd at his own game. This tactic worked for the ALP last time, when Rudd basically portrayed himself as "Howard lite" - nerdy and conservative but just a bit younger than Howard. So is this what Hockey will do? Will he try to be "Rudd lite"??

Interesting times ahead....

[Madden]

DIARY OF A LIBERAL FRONTBENCHER
http://diaryofaliberalfrontbencher.blogspot.com/
___________________________________

MONDAY 23/11/09

Morning

Booked flights to Hawaii for Friday evening.

ETS bill before senate tomorrow. Still don’t understand it.

Air conditioning was playing up. Stood in front of fridge for a while and felt better.

Afternoon

Barnaby visited office to rant. Thinks everyone should stay in Canberra to fight ETS over summer.

Dislike Barnaby.
____________________________________

TUESDAY 24/11/09

Morning

Party room debate on the ETS today, issues to consider:

Pro:

Go to Hawaii for summer (!!)
Future of planet (?)
End of ETS debate = Fewer conversations with Barnaby (!!!!)

Con:

More Tax = bad
Process of being dragged into One World Government (!?!?) begins (Who controls? UN? Al Gore? Reptoids?)
Party base elderly, don’t like cold weather.

Evening

65 speeches later still not sure. Thank god Malcolm didn’t make us vote. Hard to vote absentee when you’re in the room.

Tense party meeting but Turnbull had clear majority.
____________________________________

WEDNESDAY 25/11/09

Morning

Turnbull called another party meeting.

Breakfast with Kevin Andrews. Seems he’s challenging Turnbull, unclear why. Told him I saw him more as a friend than a leader. Awkward.

Weather in Hawaii looks beautiful.

Evening

Phew! Malcolm won 48 to 35. Result, again, was clear as day.

Hawaii here I come!
___________________________________

THURSDAY 26/11/09

Morning

Visit from Nick Minchin. He thinks Turnbull actually lost vote on Tuesday and Wednesday. At first I was confused, 48 to 35 seemed clear.

Nick explained that my view of the maths was wrong. He said no clear consensus exists on how to count the votes. Said he is a maths sceptic. Also pointed out that the vote wasn’t representative of the Liberal party given Andrew Bolt didn’t get to vote (Note: must check why that is).

Nick stormed off. Haven’t seen him this upset since The Apology.

Afternoon

Abbott just blew in. Says ETS is tearing party apart. Says Nick’s so upset he’s threatening to commit suicide with a diesel 4WD, if ETS goes through. Tuckey’s so angry he spent afternoon threatening trees in Parliamentary courtyard.

Abbott asked if I supported getting rid of Malcolm. I agreed. Always regretted missing the knife Nelson bandwagon late, didn’t want to miss this one.

Just sent off resignation to The Australian, and updated Facebook status. Bodes well for Hawaii!

Evening

Abbott just in. Said my resignation had problems. One, I forgot to send resignation to Malcolm. Two, he complained my statement did not emphasise how long it took me to make the difficult decision to resign. Told Abbott I did not want to lie to public. Thirdly, he was very upset that I said I had lost confidence in Malcolm’s leadership. Says this is not about leadership but policy. I asked him if we were still knifing Malcolm. He said yes.

Am confused.

Decided I should raise it with leader. Called J. Howard. Phone busy. Will try in morning.
__________________________________

FRIDAY 27/11/09

Evening

Worst day ever. Wife in Hawaii without me.

Media is calling it a mutiny. Ridiculous. Not enough agreement or organisation to qualify as mutiny.

Sat in Senate all day. No vote and Evans and Wong yelled at us for breaking deal. Tired of being yelled at.

Malcolm still keen on being leader. Not sure why.

Tried to call JWH. Phone busy.
________________________________

SATURDAY 28/11/09

Morning

Leadership race is on. Tony called during marathon bike ride (freak).

Tony is running for the leadership but does not want to be leader. He gave lots of good reasons why Joe should be leader. I promised to vote for or against him. Tony happy. Pretty sure he is insane.

Very good arguments for Joe. Party still debating it though. Hockey in particular is anti-Joe. Called me to insist he should not be leader.

JWH phone still engaged.
_________________________________

SUNDAY 29/11/09

Evening

Joe now wants to be leader. Abbott on TV in speedos. Decision clear.

Everyone says Joe and Dutton can unite party. Apparently, Dutton does not have seat. Nobody seems worried by this.

Unclear why all this took a week. Am thinking of demanding inquiry.

We are hanging around next week to vote against ETS. This means no more Hawaii and much more Barnaby.

I hate the ETS.
_________________________________

[swoodley]

Maybe someone should send that link to the Libs so that they can see what a bunch of idiots they look like at present.

[hillchaser]

Big Joe is cannon fodder !

A lot of careers are being terminally damaged through this. Not that I would vote for any of the these schmoes.

They need to get the labour party King maker in to sought them out.. not John Howard.

[MH_Bomber]

Nick explained that my view of the maths was wrong. He said no clear consensus exists on how to count the votes. Said he is a maths sceptic. Also pointed out that the vote wasn’t representative of the Liberal party given Andrew Bolt didn’t get to vote (Note: must check why that is).

Clever Staggy !!

"Curiouser and curiouser'..." said Alice. This saga gets juicier by the minute.

Get this from Ian McFarlane, on the 7.30 report last night;


"
KERRY O'BRIEN, PRESENTER: Ian Macfarlane has been in the eye of the Liberal storm for the past five weeks. As Climate Change Spokesman he spent a month negotiating a raft of concessions from the Rudd Government and the last week backing Malcolm Turnbull's efforts to get the legislation through the Senate, efforts that appear about to bring the leader down.

Ian Macfarlane joins me now from Parliament House.

Ian Macfarlane, I think the least one could say about this is that it's a very fluid situation, still changing as we speak. What do you think the chances are that Liberal senators will get a free vote?

IAN MACFARLANE, OPPOSITION ETS NEGOTIATOR: Well, I've got no idea what's going on, Kerry. In fact, I think the whole thing is now bordering on being out of control..What seems to be happening is that Joe Hockey has realised, as Malcolm Turnbull realised six months ago, that there has to be a solution to the Coalition's position on climate change. So what Malcolm Turnbull and I set out to do and what Malcolm has been very strong in his leadership was that we are not in government. We can't put in place the emissions trading scheme we want to. We need to come to a compromise that protects jobs and industries, and that's exactly what we did. I think what we're seeing now is a realisation across the Liberal Party that in fact the deal we did was a very good deal under the circumstances. Yes, it can be improved. Yes, there are flaws in it. Yes, when we get elected, we'll fix it. But as it stands at the moment, Malcolm Turnbull was quite right to accept the challenge from the party room to go and negotiate, and that was an overwhelming majority of the party room said, "Go and negotiate. Come back with a deal." And as we know, the party room agreed to that.
he Liberals in that party room overwhelmingly agreed to that, and then we've seen an absolute, an absolute - well, it's indescribable what's gone on in the last week."

Also from Lateline last night we had the ex Party Whip (that is Party Whip mind), Michael Johnson, having this to say about Joe Hockey's possible leadership challenge that allows for a free vote...

"Joe Hockey's a fantastic bloke, he's a great guy , he commands the affection of all of us but I think leadership is some place that requires you to stand up and have a spine".

So this guy is trying to destroy Joe hockey even before he even stands. These do nothing deniers will stop at nothing to prevent this bill going through.

Dont even get me started on that permanent dunderhead Senator Fielding.

[dodgey]

1. Check out Bank Balance.

2. Ask self "WTF am I doing this for with all these no talent tossers for a lousy $200k pa?"

3. Write note to self: "Resign position as Leader of Rabble...er..Opposition and Member of Wentworth and claim back my life."

since WHEN have YOU given a continental about Turnbull..... Oh I get it.....he's not the "Leader" anymore

[F111]

Would Abbot and Bishop fare better than Abbot and Costello?