Frustrated voters want change, now, from Turnbull

I'm getting the feeling voters have just about had enough of the Lieberals. We had to drag Abbott kicking and screaming every step of the way to do something even vaguely representative of the electorates wishes, and now it's starting to look a bit that way with Turnbull too. He appears captive to the far right unrepresentative swill that put him in power and has his hands tied. 

My feeling is if he doesn't deliver on key social change then it'll be all over red rover for the Lieberals come the election. The pent up frustration under Abbott needs an outlet, and if it doesn't find one in Turnbull it'll be looking elsewhere.

A new poll now shows that the electorate is watching Turnbull, and wanting him to take charge and FFS move on key issues. And who can blame us? Two years of Abbott was wasted spent fighting against the 50's. Australia has a bit of catching up to do with the rest of the world. Climate change, marriage equality, asylum seekers, all have been in a holding pattern or held back against a rising tide of voter anger.

The 1407-strong online survey found that even those voters who identified as Liberal supporters mostly want to see Mr Turnbull overcome a reluctant party room to enact more humane asylum seeker policies, get going on marriage equality, strengthen the response to climate change and the take-up of renewable energy and to lift funding to schools. 

Across all voters, the results suggest Mr Turnbull would have majority public support for progressive policy changes, even where internally he would encounter major, potentially career-limiting problems from changing course. 

Asked if he should take "stronger action" even in the face of internal opposition, 55 per cent of voters said yes to more humane asylum seeker policies, and 76 per cent backed improved schools funding. 

And on the two signature issues on which Mr Turnbull had reassured colleagues there would be no significant change if he replaced Mr Abbott - climate change and marriage equality - the results were also stark. Sixty-one per cent of voters say he should defy his conservative colleagues to achieve progress on marriage equality and 67 per cent say they want tough action on climate change than the government's "direct action" policy. Canberra Times