It's just one poll, if the next couple of polls show the same thing, then I think obviously I think it starts to get significant.

T Abbott 17 June 2008

It has been surprising how little attention was given to Abbott’s response to yet another poll showing the end-of-the-honeymoon-that-never-came. It is significant. Firstly because although it has been said to put Nelson under notice in the future, it has actually damaged him right now as it undermines one key thing that leaders need to be seen to have – control over their destiny.

The Australian thinks Nelson has blown his fuel ‘edge’ but that’s only because they thought he had one in the first place. The fall in Nelson’s preferred PM status in this Newspoll is no more significant than the rise reported in the last one. Read more »

The Liberals' euphoria is understandable. They are so self-absorbed that they seriously believe a leaked cabinet submission and the normal sort of jostling from departmental bureaucrats is a mirror of their own divisions. Anyone comparing Ferguson's apologetic self-flagellation with Turnbull's egotistical manoeuvrings at the press club will see which is a result of a bureaucracy yet to be disciplined (and a party that already appears to be) and which is a sign of political decay.
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Question Time was a mess yesterday for the government but Rudd has no choice here but to plough on. The promise to put petrol GST in the tax review should buy it some time until it is due to be handed down next year. However, this is not really about petrol excise but the PM’s assertion that there is nothing much more he can do.
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We are having one of those moments when we discover exactly what has happened to Australian politics over the last year. Rudd’s assertion that there is little the government can do to cut petrol prices than ease pressure at the margins is now stating what the previous government could not bring itself to, that a modest-sized government like Australia’s is relatively powerless in the face of global pressures.
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