Malcolm Turnbull is certainly going to great lengths to hype his unfunded, undetailed Snowy Hydro feasibility study, conducting a round of media interviews to spruik it. We note, by way of comparison, that the high-speed rail proposal — of which Crikey‘s own Bernard Keane is such a huge fan — is now into its ninth year of feasibility studies, scoping studies and corridor selection (that’s the current iteration — there have been previous iterations since the 1990s). But while we may be sceptical that a single watt will ever be generated from Turnbull’s media release, what we’re sure about is the timing: there’ll be a Newspoll out early next week as Parliament resumes, and another poll like the last one will immediately set leadership hares running. So the Turnbull brains trust is clearly hoping a bit of green vision will boost the government’s numbers and Turnbull’s personal ratings. Still, who knows — maybe Tony Abbott will repeat his Newspoll-wrecking performance of two weeks ago with another helpful intervention. Time enough if good enough …

Peter Fray

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