Shadow Minister

Julia has bloody hands.

The main myth that needs to be corrected is that of the Liberal Party "stability", which portrays Abbot as the overwhelming choice as leader, versus the marginal choice of Gillard by Labor. Lest we forget, Gillard won over Rudd in a 70/30 landslide.
History shows, after the extended "et tu Brute/Caesar" scenes in the Liberal Party showdown, Abbot won 42 to 41 after Joe Hockey flipped and an "informal" and an "absent" voter tilted the balance. Allowing the best will in the world, but viewing it through the lens of too many State and Local Government elections where those kind of votes are clearly engineered, it is difficult to see that the result was overwhelmingly an endorsement of the Leader of the Opposition.

This has not inhibited the Opposition in casting itself as a stable party. What they have done is to hide inner tensions under the covers more effectively than Labor. Of course, they haven't had to rule through a GFC and with a minority Government.,