MALCOLM IN BETWEEN CAREERS ?

The sulphurous row in Coalition ranks over the proposed ETS now resembles a Sumo wrestling match set in Dante’s Inferno . While the very survival of mankind is tied up with overcoming global warming , the conservatives are slapping and pushing each other, both publicly and in secret.

Whatever the outcome of the pat – a - cake contest , Malcolm Turnbull’s days are surely numbered . How a doer like Turnbull can stand leading the back -biting rabble is hard to understand .( The previous incumbent , Brendan Nelson , said six of the party tried to do him in each day .) Turnbull may well be the next one in the conservatives to pack up his tent and depart . Describing some of his party critics as smartarses shows that he is prepared for a banzai attack. The fact that Turnbull has put his leadership on the line is a clear indication of his exasperation with the outfit which by no stretch of the imagination can be described as a team. Should he be rolled, he will depart politics faster than Superman. After his departure, like General Charles de Gaulle, there would indeed be a deluge, a veritable shower as people scramble for positions of dubious power. Take your pick : gaseous Joe Hockey, the Mad Monk, Bronwyn who always wanted to be PM, somebody who has a double breasted suit , bushy eyebrows and looks and sounds like Pig Iron Bob.

Back to the future signs are already emerging within conservative forces as they rabbit on about the golden days of Tampa , the Pacific solution , border security, reds under the futon , divine right to rule , proud record of laisser- faire government- like a painted ship on a painted ocean .