Related to the previous post, I want to remark on a few things.

A week ago, if someone had told me that:

• Brendan Nelson would be leader of the opposition;
• Mal Brough couldn’t contend for the leadership of his own party;
• Julie Bishop would be deputy;
• The Liberals (bar one idiot) would be calling for Work Choices to be scrapped;
• The Liberals would be supporting the signing of Kyoto;
• The opposition’s treasury spokesperson (Malcolm Turnbull) is saying that the government should have said ’sorry’ to Aboriginal people;
• The next generation of Liberals say that Howard should have stepped down long ago, and more, blaming the prospect of him being leader for X more years was the reason they lost the election

Then I probably would have laughed at you. I’ve never seen so much (and so fast) flip-flopping done in politics as long as I can remember. This is a totally different party to what ran in the just-gone election.

And what’s a shame is that no one had the guts to come out and say all this before the election. I bet you that if all of this had occurred a year ago, then Liberals would still be in power. Why? Because they are 80% of the reasons people voted for Labor in the first place. These were their areas of difference. All of a sudden, instead of Labor trying to look like the Liberals, the Liberals are trying to look like Labor.

But it’s a good thing that as Howard has been swept out of party power with Costello and Vaile, all these new policy ideas have come to the front. If the others had stayed in, then there would be a terrible time in the Senate, and a terrible time for politics in Australia. But now we (should) see some bipartisan support for some of these important issues. Thus, while flip-flopping may be a laughable act, at least it will bring about change and some good to us all.

You may have also noticed that Malcolm Turnbull is now Nelson’s choice for treasurer. Not a bad move. It still keeps electable Turnbull in a prominent position, keeps him in front of the cameras, and positions him in a way that if Nelson does a hackery job and/or loses the next election, Turnbull is ready to go. Because surely the party doesn’t honestly think Julie Bishop could win an election or do a good job.

Of all the new faces, Turnbull should have been given this area. It’s the next smartest move besides giving him the leadership role. If the next election is run anything like this last one, the Liberals will want it to be another like the P.M./ treasurer, but not in the same capacity this one finished was run (where one was going to be handed the country). Nelson is electable, and so is Turnbull. Having both their faces around will undoubtedly help the Liberals next election.

Thomas.