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| Tony Abbott - Job on the brink |
Abbott has lessons to learn from Queensland poll
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| Tony Abbott - Not happy |
Is the clock ticking for Abbott’s leadership?
CAN Prime Minister Tony Abbott come back from this popularity slump?
As his personal approval rating nosedives to 27 per cent, the situation places Liberal party members between a rock and a hard place.
Changing leaders is a big risk: Should they stick with the man Australia loves to hate, or take the same risk the ALP took prior to the last election and change leaders? That choice didn’t pay off for the ALP.
On the surface, it appears the front bench is standing tall behind its leader.
Today both Malcolm Turnbull and Julie Bishop reaffirmed their support for the PM, both uttering the same phrase on separate occasions: “The Prime Minster has my support.”
Attorney-General George Brandis has also recently defended his boss.
“A few anonymous voices and a couple of people who have been prepared to put their head up do not constitute a basis to unsettle a prime ministership.”
“We are going to see from here on a prime minister who already is very consultative being even more consultative,” he stated this week.
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| Supporting the PM. Attorney-General George Brandis. |
But the rumblings have become louder from backbenchers who fear their future after the next election.
“We can’t continue as we are. We are getting bad feedback,” said Liberal back bencher Jane Prentice, looking at the federal impact of the Queensland election wipe-out on Saturday night.
After conceding there were lessons to be learned from Queensland’s bloodbath election, there is talk Tony Abbott could have as little as a week to turn things around.
“The Liberal brand is toxic mainly due to Tony Abbott,” Independent Senator Nick Xenophon toldABC News on Sunday.
“I think Tony Abbott has until the end of this week to turn things around,” Xenophon said.
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| The Leader of the Opposition, Bill Shorten. |
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| Greens leader Christine Milne. |
“If they think it’s the salesman, not what they’re selling, they will have learned nothing. It’s the arrogance which really frustrates people.” Opposition Labor leader Bill Shorten said.
“This government made a hue and cry about Labor changing leaders from Julia Gillard and Kevin Rudd and now they’re doing the exact same debate in even a quicker time.”
Greens leader Christine Milne was quick to blame the party, not the man.
“It’s not just Tony Abbott, it’s the Abbott government policies that are the problem. They have to reject the cruel and arrogant way they have been leaning on the poor.”
One federal MP has predicted the government would face a similar fate to Campbell Newman’s first-term government and another government minister is reported to have warned: “Abbott is finished”.
