http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,23725949-953,00.html

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23728448-601,00.html

I’ve been reading the latest news about Turnbull and how he’s started to go off and start playing his own game whilst in opposition and have been bitterly disappointed.  What was a tight well run ship, with several ambitious, but well checked and used players when the Federal Liberals were in office, has descended into same dishevelled rabble that presents itself as the opposition in most of our state parliaments.  And there is a saying that rings more and more true each time I hear about another leadership joust or internal battle of egos when it comes to the Liberals in opposition, which is “It’s better to be king of the dunghill than a servant in the palace of the king.”

I hope that what Turnbull has done will be short lived and he will soon get back to the serious business of overcoming the smug Krudd and his armies of incompetents, because at the moment, he’s not doing the Liberals any favours.  Although I have a sneaking suspicion that he is not the only one with leadership ambitions and not the only one who will try and oust Nelson.  Just as there were many people who tried and succeeded in ousting Kim Beazley (although he just kept coming back!)  And I will make it clear that I’d be writing this about anyone who had done the same as he has, even if it was one of my favourite Liberals (eg. Downer, Abbot or the like).  I know that politics is a dirty game full of ego clashes with the ambitous, but what I don’t like is people from the party I support and want to see in power airing dirty laundry in public.

The timing in this instance is extremely poor.  Opposition is all about highlighting the government’s shortcoming and exposing their poor economic management skills – especially that to achieve their surplus they have had to increase taxes in ways that are likely to punish all Australians, not just the middle class who seem to be in the ALP’s hit list.  The focus should be on how deficient the budget it, not how that the Liberals can’t even agree on what they oppose in it and what they agree with.  The other thing that is concerning is that there is a leak.  I remember in a journalism class we had former Brisbane Lord Mayor Jim Soorley in to talk to us (well he wasn’t former at the time, but he is now).  He told us with glee that the only things that got leaked from his office were the things that he wanted to be leaked.  Heaven forbid that this has got out deliberately.  Only some one who wanted to destroy the Liberal Party would do that.

This is one of the huge shortcomings we have in our state parliaments as well, and whilst this seems to be an issue in every single state in Qld (illustrated by the fact that none of our current premiers are anything special, and all of them have huge operational problems, some of which could even be called corruption, in the services they provide and yet they can’t be beaten).  I’m sure none of us will forget any time soon that after the last Liberal leadership challenge, it took three days for them to decide as no one was big enough to step back.  It was extremely poor form, but then given that they have to work with Springborg, who can’t stick to a coalition agreement if his life (or rather livelihood) depends on it, they can be forgiven*. 

I don’t know why so many Liberals think that it’s okay to be so public in their battles, it does nothing for their prospects of getting back into government.  It may help them gain short term favour if their opinion carried slightly more weight in the eyes of the public, but that’s about it.  The other problem the right of politics faces is that all its divisions are internal and so must be careful in making sure they are only minor splits not wide gulfs.  Whilst there may not be nearly as many splits as the left side of politics, at least the unions can be treated as outsiders when it is politically expedient.

But back to that proverb, it is not really meant to be taken literally, but more to sum up the illogical thinking of those who would prefer to preside over squalor than aspire to grandeur.  Really, is it better to be Opposition leader, than to be a junior minister or even a back bencher.  Which one really has more of a say in how the country is governed and how many Opposition leaders have gone down in history?

*On this note I will also say I reverse my previous position on being opposed to a merger between the Liberals and the Nationals.  Whilst there is a coalition the Liberals will always be a minority party and the highest position they can hold is deputy.  If the Nationals join the Liberal Party we can finally have a decent (ie Liberal) Premier - thank goodness.

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