Tony Abbott & his coalition team promised voters the Labor's Rudd-Gillard circus was over & behind us & "adults" were going to govern Australia!
But that was until the next circus visited town! & it seemingly has this week!
And, PM Abbott should know better! Anything is now possible in the brave new world of "first term leaders"!
In the new political world where first term Liberal Governments like Victoria & NSW change new Premiers midway through their first term (albeit for different reasons), and in Northern Territory they change leaders even more often and seemingly for the fun of it, Tony Abbott should have known better & not miscalculated his goodwill amongst voters so badly.
In a political landscape where Campbell Newman's abrasive political style blows away a 79 to 7 first term majority, politicians such as Tony Abbott should act with a lot more caution.
Voters never liked Paul Keating & John Howard, but they respected them! And Keating & Howard, were acutely aware of their standing & managed to maintain the voters' "respectability" good will for most of their tenure.
Like Gillard, Tony Abbott has never been much liked or trusted, yet his strong performance as opposition leader coupled with the Rudd-Gillard circus & carbon tax bought him a limited amount of respect amongst voters.
However, since May budget, Abbott & Hockey, whilst preaching austerity to everyone who would listen, seem to have recklessly overspent their "Public Goodwill Credit Card" well beyond their means, ie the respect they had earned amongst voters!
And the last extravagant expenditure was the Prince Philip knighthood saga! Abbott overdrew the last shreds of good will & respectability in his "Public Good Will Credit Card".'
Some fundamental shifts in the brave new world of 24/7 news/social media are clearly reshaping politics & becoming the norm:
- One term Governments will be seen more often in most western democracies
- Voters will be hard to convince to accept any radical reform/change to publicly funded health & education services
- Politicians who overestimate their level of "respectability/trust" amongst voters, will quickly lose office no mater how popular they may be at the start of their run!
- Politicians who are generally disliked & yet are given the benefit of the doubt by voters, have even less time to cement a lasting perception, and even less room for errors no matter how big or small
Tony Abbott sadly now falls in that latter category. As they say the genie is out of the bottle & Abbott's leadership will never see calm waters again & most likely his run will soon be over.
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