Graham,

"Turnbull is a centrist and pragmatist, which means he will struggle to carry the hearts, although he may capture the votes, of the grass roots of the Liberal Party."

I don't know about that.

We have several friends who are Liberal voters - true Liberal voters, the kind of people who repudiate the likes of Hawke and Keating. A couple of them are ex-farmers from the Conservative heartland.

They couldn't stand Abbott.

They saw what he was doing and the way he carried on, and lately if Abbott's name was mentioned, they would merely stare at their feet in embarrassment - as if they were waiting for this episode to be over and a real "Liberal" to once again take the reins.

Whatever happened, the IPA swallowed the Liberal Party, put in place an inarticulate leader who attempted to institute extreme austerity.

When all is said and done, all Abbott had was "We stopped the boats" - insulting our intelligence with every presser he made - treating us like dolts ad nauseam.

No respect for the intelligence of voters.

Here's the true stature of Tony Abbott, the sportsman, the team player...last night he couldn't even summon up the character to make a concession speech.

No surprise there.

I agree Poirot. Where is the gracious defeat speech that Julia and Kevin gave us after they were knifed? Abbott has no backbone at all.

I remain absolutely delighted that Abbott is gone.
He was embarrassing as a PM.

Turnbull may not be the perfect replacement, but at least he can speak well in public.....and he is for a republic and to legalise gay marriage,
No wonder most of the characters on this forum are choking over their wheeties this morning!

Of course no one admits being a supporter of an erratic regime now, but former posts don’t go away.

Turnbull has again taken control of a splintered govt; after being knifed by Abbott to push his own agenda. He is the man to consolidate and put forward a formidable govt until the next election. The Nats are not happy, being a spare part to a lost regime.

All of the misadventures of Abbott will now emerge as a distancing post. Abbott’s greatest achievements cost our bottom line and done nothing else. The removal of the carbon tax was a gift to the nations worst polluters, and the ACCC could not find evidence of any remuneration for households.

We were taken to an election on untruths, and suffered 2 years to correct the situation. Now the libs have got to get past all of the criticism they had of why Turnbull had to go. The change to a Conservative was a volcano with a swollen belly.

The last straw was the .2 % growth, we need leadership now to avoid depression.

Investment is all but gone, hopefully we will now see a reversal. Business must have confidence in govt; to expand and employ, certainty has been lacking for 2 years and now we see the figures emerging from lack of investment.

Turnbull will be good for the liberal brand and business, and all Liberal supporters should be thankful of a challenge to a failed experiment that was leading into a third world economy.
Turnbull has to prove nothing, a govt must work with a senate, not be a bully to a senate.

The Libs were good at blaming others at Abbott’s shortcomings. If you do not make the news you can not be in it. A senate does not make a govt; public opinion makes a govt; Trying to rely on a friendly Senate is asking for mistakes to be made.

The mood this morning is to critisise Shorten, Abbott doesn’t get to much mention at all. I think they are practicing getting their tongues around the word Turnbull

Bill Shorten is assured of his position as Leader of the Opposition for some time to come and he won't be bothered by challengers.

Thanks for that good news, Is Mise :) I've never voted Liberal but looking at Shorten and his complete lack of principles, I'm seriously re-considering. Nah, I'll go informal. It's difficult, isn't it, when one has voted Labor forever, and one is confronted with the choice of Shorten. No way, Jose.

Joe

Yep no doubt Turnbull will take credit for stopping the illegals and scrapping the fools carbon tax. Replacing a man of character with a man of spin delights the regressives. No doubt the big winners will be new parties and independants who care more about this country than sucking up the the European fools.