Reading roundup: Liberal leadership showdown

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Filed under: Joe Hockey, Liberal Leadership, Malcolm Turnbull, Politics

5 comments

A roundup of key coverage from this morning’s newspapers and websites is over the jump.

The Australian

Lead story: Hockey set to take on Malcolm Turnbull

Expectations that Mr Hockey would agree to challenge came as a Newspoll conducted for The Australian on the weekend revealed a stunning eight-percentage-point collapse in the Opposition Leader’s rating among voters.

After a week of attempting to force his reluctant party to vote in favour of the Prime Minister’s Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme, Mr Turnbull was rated preferred prime minister by only 14 per cent of voters, down from 22 per cent a fortnight ago.

Samantha Maiden: Bunkered-down Turnbull to fight to bitter end
Editorial: A good deal, so cool the hot air. The Australian castigates the Liberals over their divisions:

Come next month, as the world negotiates some form of agreement about greenhouse reductions, it is absurd to think, as some in the Coalition appear to do, that we can stand aloof. Healthy scepticism is one thing. Risking Australia doing nothing in the face of international consensus is another. It shows bad judgment.

Glenn Milne: Joe Hockey’s political hot potato
Imre Salusinszky: Three men aiming to be top dog
Lenore Taylor: Party facing no-win situation on carbon conundrum
Samantha Maiden: No place for Julie Bishop in Hockey’s cabinet
Matthew Franklin: Harder road for Peter Dutton

And David Speers of Sky News: Twitterati step up as ministers fall like dominoes.

As shadow ministers fell like dominoes on Thursday night, we received a string of texts revealing news of the resignations.

As they watched me read these out on air, two MPs (who it turns out were drowning their sorrows at the time) decided to text me the breaking news that “Bronwyn Bishop has also stood down from the backbench”. Hilarious.

Another MP sent me the rather succinct observation, “we are f****d”.

The Sydney Morning Herald

Philip Coorey: Go Joe - Voters back Hockey

Support for Mr Hockey among Coalition voters was 41 per cent, an increase of six points in three weeks. Support for Mr Turnbull fell nine points over the same period to 27 per cent while support for Mr Abbott rose five points to 26 points, putting him virtually level with Mr Turnbull.

Philip Coorey: Rudd’s approval rating slips - more details from the Nielsen poll.
Andrew Clennell: Greiner warns Hockey to avoid the ‘cave-dwellers’
Mark Davis: Turnbull attacks party wreckers for lacking integrity
Paul Sheehan: Malcolm versus Minchin:

[Turnbull] may survive this political civil war. He may even seek and win re-election tomorrow. But he will never, ever, enjoy the confidence of the electorate. The only question remains is how much damage Malcolm Bligh Turnbull will cause on his way out.

The Daily Telegraph

Malcolm Farr: Mal is blogging here today. Excerpt from his piece, If Joe wins, he loses and caves in to Neanderthals

Taking the leadership would also almost certainly mean making a compromise in his views on the need for an ETS - and a surrender to people who some around Hockey refer to as “the Neanderthals” - and in his support for Turnbull.

Hockey had only two options: back Turnbull all the way; or stand himself with an ETS policy tailored to the demands of people in the party he had argued against for months.

All that sacrifice - family, party, principle - to fight an election which from this vantage point the Coalition is set to lose.

Sue Dunlevy: Joe Hockey ready for leadership challenge

Herald Sun

Steve Lewis: Party heavies turn against defiant leader Turnbull
Steve Lewis: It’s all over for Turnbull. Excerpt: “The party of Menzies, Howard and Fraser risks becoming a permanent laughing stock unless it resolves its leadership woes and forges a united front.”

The Age

Michelle Grattan: Liberals floundering in chaos “THE Liberal Party is a madhouse. Malcolm Turnbull amazed even the Turnbull sceptics by his wild performance yesterday.”
Tony Wright: Kingmaker Howard gives Hockey his blessing

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5 comments

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- acotrel says:
  
  09:08am | 30/11/09
  
  If Joe Hockey is as good as Sharman Stone claims, he will stand firmly behind Malcolm Turnbull, and support his correct risk management approach to climate change.
  
  Reply
- Ann of Perth says:
  
  09:39am | 30/11/09
  
  Joe, hold on to your faith and Bible, not Howard or the traitors.
  So far you showed cool head and sensible approach to this issue.
  Please dot do dirty assassin job for Tony Abbot and others.
  Your time as Leader and Prime Minister will come naturally, not by backstabbing.
  You will have much better position and even more support from people.
  At the moment you know very well that Tony is using you.
  Don’t tarnish your good reputation.
  This is not right and it is not christian thing to do.
  Show example to your children and others that you have dignity and character.
  In you hart you know what is right,just follow what your parents have thought you. It worked till now. Not what party tell you or so called “friends”.
  Be a man and don’t let them to use you.
  
  Reply
- John T says:
  
  10:53am | 30/11/09
  
  If Joe Hockey wants to continue his Sunrise spot with Chairman Rudd, cool you heels member for North Sydney. Why would you want the job when certain electoral defeat awaits you, and with it you become tarnished, like a two dollar coin. Think back to the 1980’s after Frazer was beaten by Hawke…so similar to when the Socialist Rudd defeated Howard in 2007. Now, up to this stage we have had Nelson and Turnball then ?????. Back then it was Peacock, Howard, Peacock, Hewson, Downer, Howard then victory. (The sequence might be different in reality, if so I apologise. My point being, get there too early Joe and you will become a footnote…wait too long, and it becomes a case of what might have been – Costello. Nelson, and Costello are now dead politically…Turnball is about to join them…The public deserve a united opposition, but perhaps the Liberals need a caretaker leader…not a joke like Kevin Andrews, but perhaps a moderate who can united the party, hold the line at the next poll…then about 14 months out from the election, stick your hand up Joe..and lead us to Victory. Is that in essence what Chairman Rudd.. did..use Beazley as a patsy, and nail him in the run up to the poll…Hawke did it to Hayden…Latham tried to do it, but he was a dud of the first degree. Unfortunately, Latham became the catalyst for the Chairman to finally win for the socialists…but like all socialists, he wall fall in a purge when he loses favour with the likes of The Ranga and Albo.
  
  Reply
- JAYVEE says:
  
  03:12pm | 30/11/09
  
  Turnbull is a Two Bandwagon man, Nothing personal! Probably a real nice guy at that. The problem with that policy is that sooner or later you come to a fork in the road and you inevitably find that your policy legs are no longer long enough!
  Like the mother superior said to the nun, Being a little bit pregnant in this debate is not going to carry the can. The question no longer is, whether you had none.
  The whole thing now basically revolves around: Do You Believe in ’ Climate Change” or do you not?
  I for one have a big problem with people who keep on rattling of endless quantities of , now it seems, ‘adjusted’ and /or ‘convenient’ statistics. A human made Climate Model which takes into account all relevant factors has not been invented yet and probably never will, Hence the highly suspicious ‘enhancing so we do not loose our jobs or funding’ procedures.
  Statistics also can be highly misleading if not outright deceptive. You never see headlines that say: “11 million Australian females did NOT get raped today” do you?
  Do not loose sight of the fact that a lot of jobs and funding are at stake here, make no bones about it! And most of the screaming and ‘you should be believing’ seems to come from this camp.
  Politicians by their nature, being died in the wool percentage guys with a nose for a few extra percentage points that will get or keep them in office just have to get a bit of the action.
  Malcolm did not get rich because he could not spot a trend here or there. But unlike the stock market, where you can quit & sell your shares instantly (without anyone saying anything) and buy an opposing companies shares, things don’t work like that in politics. In politics you are required to pretty well live or die by your convictions. Or risk being thrown out of office.
  An even more pertinent fact is also that a lot of people running the day to day shows in Liberal party offices happen to be rather mature and very conservative people, not easily spooked into a new Wiz Bang The World Is Coming To An End “Climate Change’ Religion.
  Not many people realise that this whole Malcolm thing is actually their own Liberal staff revolting. If Liberal politicians vote for this ETS thing most of their offices will have none or little staff to run them the next day.
  
  Reply
- TLC says:
  
  03:52pm | 30/11/09
  
  Joe Hockey is a traitor as the rest of them!
  Judas!.
  You will see tomorrow that I am right.
  Liberals are finished for 12 years. At last the freak circus is near the end.
  Enjoy your time in wilderness.
  What a bunch of loose rs.
  Never trust a politician even when he is asleep.
  Liars, cheats and money grubbers.
  
  Long live Rudd and Labour!
  
  Reply

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