A Wealthy Banker?

Brendan Nelson had called his leadership spill and it was always going to be a Turnbull victory. Nelson’s polling results have been absolutely abysmal from day one and the leadership spill was timed to take advantage of Costello’s statement that he wasn’t interested in the leadership. Nelson took a gamble with reports that Turnbull had the numbers and Wilson “Iron Bar” Tuckey was starting to show his displeasure with the amount of speculation within the Libs as to whether Nelson was indeed “Not going anywhere”.

Turnbull has been able to grow his political capital as Environment Minister and the leaks suggesting that he was pushing for the ratification of the Kyoto Protocol (amongst other progressive policies) certainly didn’t harm his image. Nelson’s leadership of the party has been absolutely disastrous and Turnbull and new Environment spokesperson Greg Hunt often found themselves out in the cold when Nelson started making policy on the run his prerogative.

The end of Nelson’s leadership is certainly a good thing for the party but I’m not sure if it’s Turnbull’s time, yet. With Rudd and the ALP still far more preferred to the Liberals, Turnbull will have a hard time securing victory at the next election. The party needs to be updated, modernised and pulled back from the extreme right wing. Turnbull is certainly the most charismatic and liberal leader the Liberals have had for some time but it’s unlikely that the Rudd government will be a one term wonder like Whitlam’s government (not including 1974’s special election) simply because they’re moving very cautiously at the moment.

The Liberals need to ditch the Howard-era dead wood like Peter Costello, Phillip Ruddock, Bronwyn Bishop, Nelson himself, Kevin Andrews and any other arch-conservatives who will continue to hold the party firmly in the past. Whether this is done in a weekend of by-elections, a la Lyne and Mayo, or at the next federal election, things need to change. Howard’s reign is over, we’re seeing the end of the neoliberal success story as the US economy continues to slide towards recession (the control of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae are two examples of gross market failure) and Australia is waking up to the challenges of global warming and providing for our future generations.

Someone like Joe Hockey should have been elected leader instead of Turnbull. Hockey was not as deep inside the Howard government as Nelson and, at a relatively young age, could have survived an election loss in 2010 and gone on to be a Minister in a future Liberal government. Hockey could have rebuilt a more moderate Liberal Party, promoting up and coming Liberal members to junior ministries, retaining some of the old Ministry and cutting the dead wood out and leaning on them to retire. Hockey is much more likable than Nelson and not as egotistical as Turnbull. While he may not be able to win the nation over, he wouldn’t have rubbed people up the wrong way. After leading the Liberals to defeat in 2010, Hockey could have handed the reinvigorated party over to Turnbull who could rebuild the party’s fortunes electorally. For now, Turnbull will waste his electoral capital trying to pull Rudd and Swan down.