"Both the electorates of Lynne and New England are conservative with combined totals of greens and labor just above single figures in both the 2010 and 2013 elections, and the electorates' deep feeling of betrayal in ushering a wildly incompetent labor government is the reason that RO and TW "retired"..."

You forget, SM, that Tony Windsor rejected Abbott's pleas to make him PM in 2010 because he knew what a shambolic character he was. Australia didn't know what "incompetent" was until Abbott stepped up to the plate....we're a little further down the track now - and it appears Windsor's political judgement re Abbott was spot on.

As for the tussle in New England...

"Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce faces the prospect of losing his New England seat after just one term as the first opinion polling in the sprawling country electorate shows voters swinging behind the former local member, independent Tony Windsor.
And it could be the issue of coal mining in prime farm land, which is opposed by both men, that is fuelling the backlash.
Exclusive ReachTEL polling of elector sentiment obtained by Fairfax Media - the first such voter-feedback in the crucial electorate - shows primary support for Mr Joyce stands at an apparently healthy 43.1 per cent, compared to Mr Windsor, who trails on 38.

But with the likelihood of strong preference flows from anti-Coalition Labor voters, who constitute 7.1 per cent, and equally hostile Greens voters who account for another 3.4 per cent, there is a reasonable chance Mr Windsor would finish ahead, were a contest held now."

http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/barnaby-to-be-tied-up-in-windsor-knot-20160311-gngm1x.html#ixzz42dPt6lv

Poirot,

Let's try and forget your amnesia over the Rudd/Juliar/Rudd Labor/greens government that was the worst government that Aus has seen in 3 decades and the most shambolic, incompetent, and corrupt since Gough Whitless.

Look at the country community of New England, and the hardship the farmers suffered at the hands of Juliar's idiotic freeze of the live exports, vs the farmers' access to American, Cbinese, Japanese, Korean markets thanks to Abbott's finalization of the FTAs.

But the real issue is TW's despicable betrayal of his electorate, which is the reason they dumped his arse last time.

SM,

"Let's try and forget your amnesia over the Rudd/Juliar/Rudd Labor/greens government that was the worst government that Aus has seen in 3 decades and the most shambolic, incompetent, and corrupt since Gough Whitless."

Lol!...you might have a had a leg to stand on before Oz got to experience the scintillating governance of the LNP.

Have they managed to pass a budget yet?

Any policies on the way?

Which leader was dumped a la Rudd/Gillard mid term?

Which former leader has made an art form out of sniping against the current regime?

Which current leader walks around waffling ad nauseam as if he's hosting an endless hot air convention?

P,

To answer your questions:

Have they managed to pass a budget yet? - Yes 2014 and 2015.

Any policies on the way? - Senate reform and ABCC

Which leader was dumped a la Rudd/Gillard mid term? - Hawke.

Which former leader has made an art form out of sniping against the current regime? - KRudd

Which current leader walks around waffling ad nauseam as if he's hosting an endless hot air convention? - Shorten

For You:

Which PM steadfastly supported an MP that was clearly corrupt?

Which PM never met a single promise she made?

Here are some questions for you that are more relevant to the country than the inner city based Greens:

Which PMs signed FTAs allowing farmers increased access to the USA, Japan, S Korea, China and are lining up FTAs with India and the EU?

Which PM nearly ruined thousands of Farmers with a moronic OTT reaction to a TV program by banning live cattle exports to Indonesia?

Which PM announce a plan for the world's largest carbon tax, increasing the cost to all business incl farming just 17 days after giving the country an iron clad oath not to?

Which MP after complaining about coal mining sold his farm to a coal mine for a fat markup without a word of protest?

Given that Labor and the greens together have never polled higher than the mid teens in decades, which party would you think the voters of New England in 2010 would have prefered their ex NP MP to support?

SM,

It must be so galling to you to watch the fed LNP undergoing precisely the same internal wrangling that you denounced in Labor.

The irony couldn't be more stinging.

Abbott gone, Hockey failed and gone, ministers dropping out or retiring by the dozen.

I suppose you're going to tell me that Scottie Morrison actually knows how to turn on his office calculator.

Now there's a vacuous clod exposed in his role as Treasurer for the hollow drip he is.

(I reckon Barnaby has got a fight on his hands....whether you want to believe it or not:)

Shadow, the thing you appear to have failed to realise about Tony Abbott's spin is that it isn't actually true! No matter how many times the Murdoch press repeated the lie that it was the worst government Australia's had, there's no objective evidence to support that.

Corruption is a serious allegation. Do you have any actual evidence of it?

Although I don't think the live export freeze was the best course of action, there was an overwhelming call for the government to be doing something, and the industry's response to the problem in the week before the freeze was grossly inadequate. And the temporary drop in beef prices that followed was not a threat to the New England farms in the way that the proposed coal mines are.

Finalising those FTAs was probably the best thing Abbott ever did, but how much of that is down to being in the right place at the right time? Most of the negotiations were done under Labor governments.

TW did not betray his electorate. He did not break any promises, and he did what he thought was best for his electorate. Some of his constituents undoubtedly felt betrayed at the time, but less so now after they've seen what an Abbott government was like.

And TW's electorate did not dump him; he decided to retire. 'Twas only because he wasn't standing that so much of the vote went to Barnaby.

You exaggerate when you accuse JG of giving the country an iron clad oath. She promised she would put a price on carbon but it would not be in the form of a carbon tax. She broke that promise and paid a heavy price for it politically. Tony Abbott also lied about the carbon tax, broke election promises, and paid a heavy political price.

And the whinging about TW selling land to a coal mine is stupid. As he himself pointed out, surely if there's going to be coal mining, mediocre agricultural land next to an existing coal mine is the best place for it?