Secondly I know some people who worked with/for Turnbull when he was environment minister who were impressed by both how much he understood and how hard he worked.

Thirdly if his political instincts are rubbish why is no one on his staff feeding him good advice and tactics. Surely there has to be someone within his faction who has the instincts and experience. Or maybe its just really easy from the outside to claim he doesn’t know what he’s doing…

Maybe… but I think Malcolm was entitled to expect his support. Malcolm would have had a hell of a week. I know I have had a very challenging week just trying to counter his climate sceptic opponents online…

I agree with the first part of your paragraph. And those that are close to the liquidity side of the banking world, like I am, could have told you that liquidity was contracting way back in mid 2007. I believe in my opinion and feelings, I am passionate.

Rudd is predictable, not underestimated. He is a text book leader, that is, if you refer to him as a true leader - I don’t. Re the GFC, I was merely highlighting that the M&A sector was not the driving force behind the GFC, the ALP and left believers will tell you otherwise. But then again, the UK is basically bankrupt due to Labour policies.

If you recall, there was only one party in Australia that understood the severity of the GFC, the Coalition. The ALP was reactive, not proactive.

To Jillian Blackall
He gets a pardon. He’s not well.

Hey, THE DUKE
Hey, the real way to pick serious business talents in the finance industry wasn’t in terms of whether they were smart enough to cause the global financial crisis but whether like you they were smart enough to see it coming.
You’re trying too hard to sell your opinion and feelings.

I have said it often in the Crikey fold, PM Rudd is so under estimated and I can see that even in this moment of enlightenment it is still happening.

The Liberal party’s true character is being underestimated also. Following is a comment I made to BK’s pre-meeting article this morning………

….. As a medical practitioner I can say (by medical standards) how ugly it is to bring in a liberal entity with integrity and power printed on his previous forehead to deliver the necessary power statement of support for the denialists (you call them conservatives) when that liberal is recovering from a ‘nervous breakdown’ and its the first time in recovery that he’s popped up.
This could be a new definition of ‘gruesome’ but it’s definitely a new definition of ‘desperate’ and ‘audacity’. ……..

Rudd is the Jack of all trades, master of none. The king bureaucrat, career politician and the self proclaimed economic conservative. I generally dislike both the ALP and Coalition but would lean towards the Coalition if push came to shove. I certainly like Turnbull more than Rudd.

I also work in the same industry as what Turnbull did, Mergers & Acquisitions. He is not a crook, contrary to what a number of people believe, but a very intelligent person with incredible business acumen. Contrary to popular belief, he did not have a career in trading or high leverage lending and was not part of the problem that caused the liqudity crisis.

Business acumen is something the Rudd does not have and is why he will not be a good Prime Minister and why Australia will continue along the same path. Turnbull has a conscience and is prepared to make hard decisions as per yesterdays events..

Given Rudd is the master of grandstanding, I’m not quite so sure. I think you will find that Rudd has always been obsessed with being the Prime Minister of Australia. Turnbull has money, so that is not an issue, perhaps he is actually in politics for the right reasons? he certainly has more spine than Rudd.

The primary school comment was given to allow you all to observe him today and to reflect on the [unsaid here] Jesuit saying, “Give me a child until he is seven and I will give you the man.”

i see nothing today that i did not see at 7!

“i liked Malcolm when we were in primary school together - i used to play with him sat his house after school; i have not had contact since….Malcolm is not, and nor ever has been, the slightest bit interested in leading this nation solely for our nations sake but is only interested in doing so for self gratification.”

I would be reluctant to make such a judgement on anyone I have not seen since primary school.

Reason being?

Malcolm is not, and nor ever has been, the slightest bit interested in leading this nation solely for our nations sake but is only inrterested in doing so for self gratification. At the moment, and on balance, Kevin is and has shown himself to have done so. i do confess to being disquieted by Kevin’s overt “spin over reality” lately. However, if your take into account and this to yor equation the vastly different spousal occupations and backgrounds, the Lucy vs Therese thingy then i think you may get a bit more as to my drift.

Of course, i could be wrong, and would gladly be open to someone cogently proving otherwise however, i know not any of Kevin’s formative years and, for me, these personal observations of mine are entirely pertinent to Malcolm then then man and the Malcolm the man now.

If anyone has any personal experiences of Kevin during the equivalent times i knew Malcolm in then i’m only to happy to compare comment further.

I agree: “Why should he give in to all the nongs, dingbats and plain crazies of the Coalition!!”

Julius,

I agree: “Don’t write off Turnbull until you see whether he can capitalise on the opportunity he now has.” Yes, this is the only the beginning. Malcolm has survived this, so I would say he can survive just about anything.

Energy pedant,

I agree with your idea that the Minchin faction should join the National Party, resulting in a genuinely liberal party and a genuinely conservative party that could form a coalition.

The Liberal party don’t deserve people like Macca and Malcom. They are far more deserving of the leadership of people like the egregious Kev the Rev, architect of Work Choices and the Haneef farce. Other candidates such as the man who victimized the weak and vulnerable Pauline Hanson, Tony “look at me” Abbot should not be overlooked. Other possibilities include our Bronny or perish the thought Wilson “from the West” Tuckey, an intellectual giant of a man. They are all good Howard men/women who will continue the cause.

They could try and recruit Minchin, but he spends so much time white-anting anyone who disagrees with him he would never have time to attend a cabinet meeting. And if he did it is unlikely anyone else would turn up.

The problem for those of us not in the Liberal party is that when Rudd reaches his use-by date and the Liberals get in we will be stuck with one of them.

All we can hope is that Malcom prevails or its back to the 20th century

Then i heard about and so admired the (apocryphal?) way it was said he took notes during his law degree at uni by paying a fellow student to put carbon paper btw his pages so he could go out and get paid to do KP’s bidding; career moves on.

And i admired him entering parliament (tho not how he did it), and then rising so quickly, and his advocating the cabinet adoption of the Kyoto protocol under Howard.

But his handling of this episode?

He is the leader, and should patently know this, of a herd of cats and one must now seriously question his judgement. He has not so far, and it appears he never will ever bring them on board to his way.

This blind belief in his personal aura is and will always be his achilles heel - and Brendan Nelson’s medical diagnosis was correct if i remember his pre-pubescent days correctly.

He had it in primary school, he still has it!

A: outside of parliament, as usual. Pollies love to think they are leaders but all they lead is a flock of sheep who answer to vested interests and toe the party line.

Who’s going to stand up to big coal?

For a classic example, take Peter Garrett (please!). For years he’s preached “there ought to be this and that”. Now he’s Minister for Environment and what have we? A photo opportunity in an ill-fitting suit and hard hat.

Bugger the lot of them.