WHEN a majority of Australians voted for the Coalition in 2013 they voted against dysfunction and disunity.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
It was not a ringing endorsement. If less than half a million voters had switched back to Labor on a two party preferred basis the result would have been fascinating.
On election night Prime Minister-elect Tony Abbott said: "It is the people of Australia who determine the government and the prime minister of this country, and you will punish anyone who takes you for granted."
He spoke of a "strong and united Liberal and National Party Coalition team ... that says what it means and means what it says..."
All that seems so long ago. Now we have a dysfunctional ministry, squabbling and sniping over social reform, with Malcolm Turnbull backers running a constant guerilla war.
The harshness of the 2014 federal budget and its problems in the Senate are not factors that would profoundly affect the standing of the government. Mr Abbott promised to fix the budget.
He has genuinely attempted to fulfil that promise, but this is not the problem. The core issue will always be evidence of internal sniping and bickering, when rivalry and ambition betray the trust of the people.
Policy failures like the carbon tax or pink bat scandal did not destroy the Labor government. It was destroyed by the political indulgence of rivalry, treachery, ambition and the appearance of taking electors for granted.
Mr Abbott spoke of this in 2013, but he seems to lack the authority of a leader, and when he exercises that authority he is cast as autocratic. He should know by now that leadership is made up of strength, example and the skill of persuasion.
If his team can't accept that and are willing to flout the discipline required of a strong and united government, those half a million or so electors will be forced to accept the Labor equivalent next year.