“Eric Abetz, before he was unceremoniously dumped by Turnbull, was being lined up as our ambassador to Berlin. That Abbott project has been quietly shelved.”

“Two weeks ago there were flashes of the old Turnbull in a heated phone confrontation with NSW premier Mike Baird. ‘A leopard can’t change its spots,’ was the reaction of one MP.”

“Abbott has said he’s not interested in being an ambassador. 'Diplomacy wasn’t his greatest skill,' a highly connected liberal businessman says, 'so it’s just as well.'”

“Morrison says we need to have a mature discussion. But is there a grown-up way of cutting the wages and conditions of four million Australians?”

“In a disturbing development for the Labor narrative that nothing has changed but the leader, Turnbull has parted ways with Abbott’s chief business adviser, Maurice Newman.”

“One of Labor’s key strategists says they don’t have to be explicit in playing to class envy; it is already happening. Everyone knows Turnbull is a ‘rich dude’.”

“What will give Turnbull a freer hand is his performance as measured in the opinion polls. The early signs are ominous for Labor and the hard right.”

“This issue can never shake its racist and xenophobic undertones. Abbott is to be commended for taking no notice of those in his party room on the extreme right. ”

“Arthur Sinodinos gave the ministerial disunity story a huge blast of oxygen. He would not have done so without full knowledge of the ramifications. ”