red baron
Gold Member
Offline
Australian Politics
Posts: 10204
Blue Mountains
Gender: 
|
It seems that the presence of Julie Bishop as an obvious choice to the Liberal Party's woes looms larger than ever
Malcolm Turnbull is hanging onto the Leadership by the skin of his teeth. The citizenship debacle of which Turnbull was as much of a victim as anyone seems to be the final straw in a series of reversals for the Government
For the Liberals to go to the next Federal Election with Malcolm Turnbull as Leader is looking less likely
The latest Opinion Polls show that Julie Bishop is seen as strong, decisive and kind. She far out guns Turnbull in the popularity stakes and seems to be someone who can stand up to Blackout Bill Shorten
Standby for changes once Bennelong is settled
News Article:
Deputy Liberal leader Julie Bishop has craftily dodged admitting whether or not she has ambitions to one day be prime minister, after a poll found voters favoured her as Liberal leader over Malcolm Turnbull.
When pressed over the Labor Party-commissioned poll, in which voters described her as an “intelligent” and “strong” leader, Ms Bishop twice avoided answering what plans she might have in climbing up the Liberal Party ranks.
When asked by ABC Insiders host Barrie Cassidy if she harboured ambitions to be leader one day, she replied: “I have stood for election as a deputy leader of the party and our party has elected me on a number of occasions and so I will continue as deputy as long as my party elects me as deputy.
“I’m committed to working with Malcolm Turnbull and I agree absolutely with Barnaby Joyce is the leader of our party and will lead us to the next election and I look forward to working with him as the deputy leader of the Liberal Party.”
Ms Bishop dismissed the poll as “mischief making” by Labor.
The poll, convened by UMR Research, found Ms Bishop’s personality traits were perceived as more appealing – “talented”, “smart” and “good” – than Mr Turnbull who was most commonly described as “arrogant” and “smug”.
Its findings were consistent with a 2016 Roy Morgan survey which showed Ms Bishop as preferred Coalition leader over Mr Turnbull – 34 per cent to 25 per cent.
Meanwhile, Liberal Party president Nick Greiner, the former NSW premier, has presented the party with an ultimatum: unite or lose the next election.
julie bishop
Julie Bishop has been dubbed by some as the “Lady Macbeth” of Parliament. Photo: AAP
“If it isn’t resolved, if we’re not able to present a compelling, unified face to the Australian public, we won’t win the election in two years’ time,” Mr Greiner told Sky News on Sunday.
“I think it is as simple and as stark as that and everyone involved knows that.”
Mr Greiner said he would meet with both Mr Turnbull and his predecessor Tony Abbott to encourage them to resolve their differences.
Professor Rodney Tiffen, author of Disposable Leaders, told The New Daily that disunity is “usually a precursor to defeat”.
“Of the 73 successful leadership challenges since 1970, only 16 have occurred while the party has been in government. Of those, [Paul] Keating and Turnbull have been the only ones to keep a majority at the next election – and only just,” he said.
“It’s usually a precursor of defeat. It is a very public admission the government is not on track or is failing.”
Professor Tiffen said Ms Bishop has been dubbed by some as the “Lady Macbeth” of Parliament – the Shakespearian character who goaded her husband to kill the Scottish king – following her part in the ousting of Mr Abbott.
But he said it was unlikely she would ever replace Mr Turnbull as party leader, let alone become prime minister.
“She has been relatively isolated in her portfolio of foreign affairs and failed badly as shadow treasurer and had to be moved,” he said.
“But they [politicians] will never say never.”
|
Forum
Pages: 1 
