Unfortunately, there is not a skerrick of evidence that the Australian people, led by the nose by a populist media with an insatiable appetite for the lowest common denominator, has the slightest interest whatsoever in a "conviction politician".

Of any stripe.

Even if Mr Turnbull were to regain a position of influence, he would be chewed up and spat out again, for daring to have principles, when it is the opinion poll that holds sway, and the entertaining sound-bite that is king.

Amicus,

We could go on debate endlessly about "conviction" and "team play". I don't, however, agree that these things, in the final analysis, choose who will stand out in politics and who won't.
Personality and charisma play a pertinent role in party room dealings and in the public arena....and are much more likely to be the spur that sets some people apart from others. People like Turnbull will usually come up trumps because the "shine".
To use a dance hall analogy - this why some very competent politicians remain wallflowers, some have a couple of dances(and I would include Mr Abbott in this category) - and some become the "Belle of the Ball" - the chosen one.

Isn't it interesting that it's the lefties who want Turnbull. Why did he join the wrong party? Probably thought it would be easier to become leader in the libs.

All those who fell for that arrogant twit Rudd, are in love with Turnbull, another arrogant twit.

Is it that lefties want a dumb leader, who can talk, but can't add 2+2, & get anything like 4? I wonder why they admire such people?

Turnbull, & Rudd are like two peas in a pod, almost clones. The type who have used the gift of the gab to make themselves quite wealthy, but really don't know which way is up.

Of course it could be their cunning showing. If they can talk the libs into bringing Turnbull back, even little Julie should be safe. His arrogance would loose many lib voters, & his stupidity would loose many more.

Would be fun though, watching what real lib voters would do. You might even get real people voting Green, just to get away from Gillard & Turnbull.

Can you imagine it, Gillard, Brown & Turnbull, poor old Oz would have no chance. Talk about the three amigos, [independents] that bunch would not have a single clew between the lot of them. They may even be able to totally stuff the place before I'm too old to care.

Still, it would be a pity for my grand kids to be wishing they had been lucky enough to be born in Pakistan.

<he possesses that rather outrageous combination of financial conservatism and social liberality>

Social liberalism, come on, whose leg are you trying to pull.

Malcolm wanted to privatise water.

It would be nice to think that he did have a social conscious, but I doubt it very strongly.

There is no doubt that he has charisma, but so did Hitler.

I bet the boys from MacQuarie bank are banking on him becoming the next liberal leader and then prime minister. Nothing like having one of your own controlling the reins of power and wealth.

Those on the left hate having their immoral policies exposed by any person who is pro normal family and against the slaughter of the unborn. Instead they are far more comfortable with those who have adopted the pseudo intellectual gw belief because it enhances their self righteousness and what they see as their 'moral superiority.'

In saying that Malcolm should be congratulated for his dignity and honesty in admitting that Tony Abbot did what he could not. Abbot took the Liberals from a completely unelectable position to almost tossing the first term incompetent Government. How even his most ardent haters ignore this shows their blindness. They have egg all over their faces whether he wins or loses. Turnbull in my estimation has gone up after having to swallow the bitter pill that many many Australians have woken up to the fact that Queensland, Victoria and NSW are not going to run out of water and the soothsayers have be proven to be wrong time and time again. If only they had of built more dams instead of believing these scaremongers the water supply would be looking healthy for a long time.

Who could possibly forget what Malcolm Turnbull stood for? Some examples:

He stirred up a fierce storm in raising the Kevin Rudd ute-gate affair, a storm that yielded no rain.

Then he went out of his way to support Labor's CPRS as the means of beating the immoral world threat of anthropogenic global warming (AGW). Unfortunately, in doing so, Malcolm swallowed the environmentalist assertion that AGW was scientifically proved, which is absolutely not the case. This is unforgivable for someone with Malcolm's legal training. Has he forgotten the laws of evidence? Should he not wait to come up with a judgement until he has looked rigorously at all the evidence?

Let's hope that Malcolm is never appointed as a judge in a court of law, as weighing up all the evidence is not one of Malcolm's strengths.