Turnbull, hammer, nail, head.

[3.14159]

THE man touted as the likely successor to Tony Abbott has given advice on how to be a successful leader in a speech to business identities in the United States.

As Mr Abbott was floundering in Australia, Malcolm Turnbull gave a 5000-word speech where he declared a successful leader was one who had the ability to make the public understand unpopular policy.

�Leaders must be decision- makers, but they must also be, above all, explainers and advocates, unravelling complex issues in clear language that explains why things have to change and why the Government cannot solve every problem,�� he said.

�Many would add it means taking unpopular decisions, I would rephrase that by saying it means taking decisions which may not be popular but will be accepted because the public understands why they have to be taken.�

It is understood the speech was written well before Mr Abbott�s leadership problems intensified during the last week.

However many within the government believe the lines on leadership bore direct relevance to Mr Abbott�s inability to sell key budget measures and delay in axing the paid parental leave scheme.

The Communications Minister, who many within the party believe should have ousted Joe Hockey as Treasurer in Mr Abbott�s pre-Christmas reshuffle, has strong public support to take the nation�s top job.

�The Prime Minister has my support,�� he said.

Mr Turnbull admitted it was a �pretty tough day� waking up to the Queensland election result.

�I will just say this, in our line of business, politics ... The people are our masters, they are the boss. They have the final word, and they have spoken pretty emphatically.�

Mr Turnbull said he felt for his Queensland colleagues.

[stui magpie]

Turnbull is a smart man.

Nothing in that should surprise anyone.

[Dave The Man]

He is just as bad as bloody Abbott

[John Wren]

good communication is the key. no matter how brilliant an idea is if people don't understand it then it may as well be worthless.

[Morrigu]

Not quite Dave - at least it appears his neurons retain the ability to synapse and he is reasonably articulate without relating his actions to " sports - boys talk" but his performance as a Minister in this shambles of a Government has been less than impressive.

Most folk I know have gone right off Malcolm - still he would have to be better than the current fruit loop!!!

[David]

[Tannin]

All this yammer about "explaining" and "communication" is bullshit from start to finish. Maybe the people mouthing the words believe it, maybe they don't, but the point is moot. No amount of "communication", no "better ability to explain", no "improvement in the public understanding" can make any great difference if the policies themselves are bad.

I believe that the Liberals might - just might - bite the bullet and bring in the despised pinko-leftie Turnbull to lead them to the next election. They know damn well that they need desperate action, so desperate is their need that they are even considering bringing Turnbull back. That's one thing. It would be another thing completely though to backflip on their most loved policies, which are precisely the policies they have to change if they are to stand a snowballs chance of surviving an election.

The whole Liberal Party is obsessively in love with more than a dozen different hard right and flat earth policies, each one of them electoral poison. They bar up thinking about Work Choices II, about wrecking science in Australia, about destroying the university system, about sabotaging the renewables industry, about castrating the ABC, about trashing the health system, about ruining the NBN, about anything that makes global warming even worse instead of better.

Does anybody seriously believe that, Turnbull or no Turnbull, the Liberal Party will backflip on even as many as two or three of these hard-right policies? Turnbull can explain all he likes, but nothing will persuade the voting public of Australia to vote for those policies. Abbott isn't hated 'coz he's Abbott, he's hated 'coz his government has terrible hard-right policies no-one voted for and no-one wants.

[pietillidie]

^Agreed. Turnbull will struggle to lead them and hold a straight face because their mining sponsors and core support base consists of complete crackpots. Turnbull is not a redneck state, old wealth, fundamentalist loon like an American Bush family member and can't pretend to be. He's a sheltered, delusional Wall Street elite, which is every bit as toxic in the present economic climate of revenue and real wage decline.

Moreover, Turnbull is far more warm, limp lettuce leaf than the leader of anything. A more likely scenario, to my mind, would be Bishop and Turnbull, with both of them putting a less deranged face on Abbott-type policies, canceling out each other's perceived weaknesses.

That's the only viable combination they have. Otherwise, they stick with Abbott to the death and see what chaos and mess they can stir up to blackmail the public into giving them what they want for another term.

The latter option is horrific. The former option will be forced to moderate a lot, and that will please many at a superficial level, which is why it is more likely. For anyone with half an ounce of care for the nation, it is also just another Howard waste of precious national time that won't grasp the revenue nettle except in ways which destroy wages, divide Australian society further, and steal hope.

The best approach for the good of the nation is for everyone to demand Shorten enter the ring now and stamp his name very clearly onto the following so we can start looking forward again:

1. Building new revenue streams in Asian region tourism (a hugely underdeveloped national industry); Asian region education (Australia should be the education leader in a region of billions with world-leading education and research centres); science and science-based engineering, including new energy (the engine of new industry); info.tech, data tech and correcting Malcolm's NBN disgrace (the new, high salary jobs that are now missing); and startup, design and film ecosystems (energy; creativity; regional investment; updated urban development zones). The bulk of the country's strategic resources should be leveraged to position Australia at the forefront of these things in the Asian region.

2. Grasping the nettle of clawing back revenue decline through a commitment to new international tax policies and agreements with global scope, including going after tax havens. No country can afford wealth being made off the back of its social quality and shipped off in dodgy arrangements elsewhere.

3. Selling the easing of high-income and upper-middle class taxation welfare as an essential trade for general spending restraints which are to affect everyone without crushing poor families and damaging their futures.

4. Bringing an end to the divisive bullying of lower-income families, young people and the elderly, reinstating their hope and access, which in the case of the latter means access to productive career options.

5. Backing the China regional development bank proposal as a means of promoting regional stability and economic growth, formalising and maturing China's already central regional role by forcing it to engage international transparency and responsibility in exchange for international validation. Framing Australian international foreign aid commitments and commitments to asylum seekers as regional affairs to be dealt with in tandem with major regional players, not impoverished neighbours which can barely feed themselves. To leverage regional weight by leading efforts to leverage it, not by avoiding responsibility.

6. Maintaining close but much more independent relations with the US based on the primacy of Australia's interests in Asia. Nothing needs to be said about the declining power and growing flakiness of the US; it's already obvious, so there's no need to get into that debate. All Australia is doing is focusing on its own region as it should.

7. Explaining that, in the real world in which we now live, it's Tony Abbott and Gliberal policy which is radical, years out of date, and a recipe for ongoing decline in a world that is moving forward fast. Productive and forward-looking policies are the only sound and stable path for the country. There is no stability in declining as the world moves on; only the complete opposite.

8. Clearly highlighting a commitment to middle-class wages and careers, universal health and education, science and the contemporary world by opposing the following Glib lunacy in no uncertain terms:

[regan is true fullback]

This was foretold by Shakespeare 400 years ago.

while Macbeth is giving an Abbott-like performance as king, Macduff and Malcolm are discussing the nature of leadership, and at the same time showing us audience that Malcolm has what it takes to be a good king.

While there is a procession the length of the Nullabor to take "the usurpers cursed head", sadly only his liberal colleagues will get that pleasure...

[David]

That's a great dream, PTID. It really puts into context how pathetic this government (and, to an extent, the last one) has been. Why shouldn't we demand such ambition and forward-thinking from our governments? Instead, we get three-word slogans, exploitation of ignorance and sex scandals. It could be so much better:

"Imagine there's no Abbott;
it's easy if you try..."

[Dave The Man]

[Culprit]

The LNP will push Scott Morrison before Turnbull.

[David]

Honestly, I reckon Bishop is odds-on. She has the magical combination of nasty large-L Liberal ideology and a relative distance from this government's shenanigans to date. Turnbull would be the more ambitious choice if they really wanted to make Labor sweat, but he'd cause Rudd-esque divisions in the party sooner or later. I suspect Bishop would have far more party support.

Otherwise, I'd be very surprised if they went with Morrison. If they really get off on being hated they'd go with him, but somehow I suspect they're looking to win a few voters back right now. It has to be Bishop.

[nomadjack]

Has to be Bishop with Turnball as treasurer if they go for change. While it is always dangerous to underestimate the survival instinct of backbenchers when polls turn as bad as they are at the moment, Turnball is even more hated within the parliamentary party than Rudd was and is unlikely to gain enough support in his own right.

Morrison would be preferred by many currently aligned with Abbott but is far too abrasive and unlikeable to be a big vote winner with the electorate.

[1061]

Watching Bishop this morning I get the feeling she isn't up to it.