Turnbull is being seen as ‘weak’ – unable to stand up for what he really believes in against the conservatives in his party. Worse, he ‘stuffs up’.

“In parliament, Turnbull did what he failed to do on Radio National and vowed never to trade away Howard’s gun laws but to strengthen them. But he then mired himself in an apparent contradiction. ”

“The difficulty for Turnbull is the split between the hardliners and the moderates. Throw in bruised egos and thwarted ambitions and all Shorten has to do is add water and stir.”

“ANZ’s Shayne Elliott, like CBA’s Ian Narev, came to the parliamentary hearing in sackcloth and ashes. But the penitent’s garb could impress only the most gullible. ”

“George Christensen says the only option is a plebiscite. If the prime minister accepts this in the hope the issue will go away, he is deluding himself.”

“If ever leadership was needed it is now, before these corrosive views are allowed to destroy the multicultural cohesive society Australia has become.”

“One of the most significant concessions was the dropping of the baby bonus. The $367 million payment was a condition of the Coalition agreement and a key promise of the Nationals.”

“The irony is that Dastyari hadn’t broken any of the disclosure rules. He even declared his dumb mistake. But what gave the government attacks force is that he appeared to have been caught out telling his Chinese donors what they wanted to hear. ”

“Destabilising Turnbull is as much a motivation as fighting for pristine free speech. The laudable conservative value of promoting ‘civility’ is collateral damage in this play.”