"I think he's saying it's you."

(spookmagazine.com)

Joko Widodo is not the only disappointing Southeast Asian political leader. In fact, Tony Abbott's rate of mass disappointment may be more spectacular:

Mr Abbott: What's the specific problem? Is there a policy thing you don't agree with? 

Neil Mitchell: I think he's saying it's you. 

Caller: Prime Minister, it's the way you do things, like the Medicare thing, with education, you've done so many backflips. People don't know where you're going. 

Mr Abbott went on to more or less agree his government's sales skills left a lot to be desired. 

The call, from an alleged Liberal voter, has already made national headlines as Mr Abbott faces mounting pressure on his own position. 

Neil Mitchell found the reaction to the caller "intriguing". 

"The media is jumping on Andrew as striking a nerve, and I think he did strike a nerve. But why are they relying on a talkback caller to do that?" he said. "If they think that's the state of the world, why aren't they writing that analytically?

"I mean, it puzzles me that Andrew - who, God bless him, is one of our audience - becomes the leader of the national agenda." 

Earlier, Mr Abbott told Neil Mitchell it was "nonsense, just nonsense" that there was growing unrest on the Liberal backbench. 

(3AW)



Abbott wanted more than anything to begin the game afresh having tied off the least productive fights as unwinnable. Last year had ended in desultory fashion characterised by a series of grudging half-retreats – the kind that left the government carrying both the humiliation of admitting its errors while still being lumbered with elements of the primary problem. 

The Prime Minister had assured colleagues his pre-Christmas clean-up would facilitate a repositioning in the new year. Yet 2015 has commenced amid confusion at least as severe. Now, the "judgment" word is being muttered. 

The horror for many Liberals, and the danger for Abbott is that it is in the heartland where disillusionment with the government seems at its strongest. MPs say they are picking up genuine anger within their own membership. 

(SMH)



Senator Abetz guessed there were only “one or two” Coalition MPs backgrounding journalists against the Prime Minister. 

“They’re always very brave when they don’t have to give their name and this kind of backgrounding, if it is occurring, it’s just people who aren’t willing to put their names to it,” he said. 

“It’s amazing how the lowliest backbencher all of a sudden becomes a ‘senior Liberal’ in stories such as this. The Prime Minister always sees himself as the first among equals. That is one of the strengths of his leadership. That is why he was such a successful, and if I might say long-term, leader of the opposition. 

The Opposition Leader claimed the government was “ripping itself to bits”. 

“If the Abbott Liberal-National government can’t govern themselves, how can they govern Australia? The Prime Minister and his colleagues seem more intent about fighting for their own jobs rather than fighting for the jobs of all Australians,” Mr Shorten said. 

(The Australian)



Support for Mr. Abbott has also ebbed since he broke a pre-election pledge not to raise taxes. In May’s budget statement, the government announced it would raise some fuel taxes and increase the contribution from certain higher-income earners—part of measures to cope with a steep downturn in mining investment as a decadelong resources boom cools. Recent sharp falls in commodity prices have further soured the outlook for the resource-rich country. 

Australia’s state broadcaster said Thursday that it had spoken with conservative lawmakers whom it didn’t name that said Mr. Abbott’s standing with voters was such that there was little chance of the government winning the next election. Much of the Australian media is already speculating that he may be replaced by a more popular figure such as Foreign Minister Julie Bishop. 

(WSJ)



When Tony Abbott fronts the National Press Club on February 2, he’ll be under the most intense scrutiny perhaps any prime minister has faced. 

While the new political year has barely got under way – federal parliament doesn’t resume for more than a fortnight – leadership has already emerged as the defining issue for 2015. 

And as federal MPs get back into offices after the summer recess, hitting the phones after taking the pulse of middle Australia, the sentiment is near unanimous. The PM has a massive problem with the punters.

The danger for the Prime Minister is that the electorate – like a number of his Coalition colleagues who I have spoken to over the past week – have simply made up their mind. 

Against this backdrop, with a national leader whose authority is severely dented, neither the Labor Party nor an increasingly strident Senate can be expected to do the PM any favours. 

(New Daily)