Leadership change canvased by Lieberals - Canberra

Oh it's getting bloody marvelous now darlings! The leadership speculation has started within Lieberal ranks. It's behind a pay wall at the AFR, but is being commented about elsewhere.

The latest Fairfax Ipsos poll shows Labor still leads the Coalition 52-48 on a two-party preferred basis. A survey of leader attributes found just over one third of respondents think Mr Abbott is trustworthy and only half think he is competent. 

The Australian Financial Review is reporting two unnamed Liberals have begun canvassing the idea of tapping Mr Abbott on the shoulder should the bad opinion polls not improve. 

But Mr Abbott brushed aside the speculation on Monday, comparing himself to the iconic late conservative leaders Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher. more

Reagan and Thatcher? Oh please, what a deluded arrogant prick.

There's no doubt in my mind that the poor polling will continue unabated. What's more the gov is coming apart at the seams. Their own deputy asbestos Julie had to go to cabinet to even attend the climate talks in Peru after Abbott said no. Then Abbott gave her a climate skeptic to chaperone her politically, fearing she might agree to too much. Lieberal back benchers rely on the media to know WTF gov policy is. Abbott's being dragged kicking and screaming to FFS change his crazy paid parental leave policy. 

Once the speculation starts it's only a matter of time before it comes to a head. How long will it be before somebody in the gov has the numbers to roll Abbott?

Personally I'm astounded it's taken this long for the Lieberals to finally start realising that Abbott is a lemon. Shows how brain dead the rest of them are too.  

Which brings us back, as it should, to Abbott himself: the buck stops with him. In spite of the forced concession on the PPL, he is still not for turning. No changes to his office, no reshuffle, and no serious changes of either direction or style. He seems to really believe his pre-election prediction that the mere fact that Labor has been defeated and that he is in government is all that is needed: a sort of universal application of the born-to-rule mentality that characterised the Liberals for much of the Menzies years. more