Stern,

I'm sure Christopher Pyne will be gratified to know that his colleagues will support him...rather than stab him in the back. Afterall, that sort of thing doesn't happen in the Liberal Party, does it...just ask Malcolm Turnbull.

Poirot

Malcolm Turnbull was not stabbed in the back.

Malcolm Turnbull was challenged head on.

The factional infighting of Labor is not replicated in Liberal circles simply because the Liberals, unlike Labor, are not a bunch of competing factions with disperate policies, values and goals.

I Have to agree, Pyne is a pain in the arse, he really is.
He was too, when in Govt, pushing the religious barrow.

One thing that is seldom mentioned but is true, Tony Burke
has in fact been a pretty good Minister for Agriculture.
In many ways he's the opposite of Pyne, no drama queen
but a rational fellow, prepared to listen and IMHO underrated.

Dear Stern,

There's an interesting editorial in
"The Age," Saturday, July 17, 2010.

And I quote:

"The obligation to develop and proclaim a
positive program falls more strongly on
the Coalition, which under Mr Abbott has
tended to oppose reflexively whatever the
government proposes without feeling constrained
to offer better alternatives.

Australians know very little about what an
Abbott government would do, apart from providing
a ratbag of financial incentives to reduce
carbon emissions, and imposing an industrial-relations
regime eerily reminiscent of the Howard government's
deeply unpopular WorkChoices, though unsurprisingly
it won't have the name...

...the Coalition will do a grave disservice to
Australian democracy if they are content to spend
this election campaign concentrating on issues that
contain more fantasy than substance. Depressingly,
however, they have so far shown every sign that
this is what they are likely to do. Far more energy
has gone into reassuring voters that fleets of asylum
seekers will be turned around if they try to reach
these shores..." (rather than explaining that the
few thousand who arrive by boat each year are only
a tiny proportion of the total number of immigrants,
and an even smaller proportion of the global number
of displaced persons).

The article also tells us that, "Australia's net
government debt, which is expected to peak at 6 percent
of gross domestic product in the next financial year,
is less than a tenth of the average debt of the major
advanced economies. Australia does not have crushing
public debt, and in the next six weeks Australia's
politicians should concentrate on telling voters what
they can do, not what they won't do!"

Perhaps as far as you're concerned you prefer
fantasy to substance, as the latter comes under
the heading of "ranting."

You're certainly entitled to your
opinions (but not your facts).

Foxy “"The obligation to develop and proclaim a
positive program falls more strongly on
the Coalition, which under Mr Abbott has
tended to oppose reflexively whatever the
government proposes without feeling constrained
to offer better alternatives.”

Yes well that is always the challenge for Liberals. When the Liberals have implemented what has been seen to work, successfully, it seems pointless to develop new ways.

Conversely, the socialists screw things up so badly they know they could never afford to go to the electorate with the same bunch of failed policies as they presented last time

Hence, as one politician observed

"Socialists have always spent much of their time seeking new titles for their beliefs, because the old versions so quickly become outdated and discredited."

Trust me, an abbott government will do pretty much what a Howard government did.

Which will prove to be a significantly better government than the Rudd, now Gizzards bunch of shambling problem creators, known for the enormity of disasters following on from their

Death and fire producing insulation program
Waste of taxes on over-prices school halls.
Dud computer handouts
Failed grocery watch
Failed fuel watch
Failed East-Timor solution

In short

Irresponsible Profligacy
Ministerial Incompetence
An absolute Failure to deliver or perform
Doubtless, Ms Gizzards will have a nice new shiny bundle of policies to present to the electorate....

Simply because she could never, ever expect to remain in office with the ones of which she has been a principle accessory of for the past 3 years

Stern, I asked you for your analysis of Christopher Pyne's performance over the past few years.

That was a straightforward, unambiguous question. It was not a "loaded" question, as you falsely imply. The simple, easy question gave you the opportunity to tell us about the achievements, or otherwise, of Christopher Pyne over the past few years.

Your response showed you know nothing about Christopher Pyne. You couldn't even state ONE achievement or ONE failure. Instead you chose to go the way of abuse, party political rhetoric, slogans and generalised political dogma and political belief. That's what often happens when you hit the righties with a basic, clear enquiry ...... what you get back is the usual inflexible dogma and rhetoric. Just look at the way Tony Abbott conducts himself; he's a liability for the Liberal Party. You really need someone better to be in charge of your party Stern...... like Wilson Tuckey maybe? Ha ha!