“For the first time since Turnbull replaced Abbott, the government did not lead in a single poll … this election will be hard-fought trench warfare in the marginals.”

“Attempts to delink rates of remuneration with road safety are not borne out by studies ... It is a no-brainer that Truck drivers struggling to meet their lease or mortgage payments will push the envelope.”

“If you compromise with zealots all you do is encourage them to keep threatening to blow up the joint. And don’t worry: Turnbull is learning that at great cost. ”

“Curiously, Scott Morrison says ‘you can’t tax your way to surplus’. Tell that to Peter Costello. The revenue that gave him his surpluses was just that: revenue. ”

“Labor’s senate strategists are scathing of Turnbull’s use of the constitutional ploy. Just how far the opposition is willing to drag “the Crown” into the political fray remains to be seen. ”

“Why would a treasurer invest so much time and capital softening up the electorate for big tax changes only to ditch them, not once but three times?”

“The mere spectacle of the leader who took the party from opposition to government sitting on the backbench puts up in neon lights failure and division.”

“Abbott and his acolytes have seized on the vacuum created by the government’s protracted consideration of its tax plans to wage a proxy war on Turnbull. ”

“In parliament Turnbull gave weight to Labor’s taunts that he was ‘rattled’. Gone was the equilibrium and humour in evidence since he grabbed the nation’s top job.”