I have no doubt it all began with the Abbott led Opposition and...

I have no doubt it all began with the Abbott led Opposition
and subsequently the Abbott govt.

Abbott knifed Malcolm Turnbull in Opposition and that imo
set the stage for a divided Liberal camp with the prospect of
recriminations and leaks causing political embarrassment.

It needs to be remembered that Abbott’s win over Turnbull
was not decisive, one vote and it was opportunistic in timing imo.
The divisions would have been there simmering and when Abbott
won the election in 2013 it did not take long for the wheels to start
to fall off on two major counts.

Firstly, Abbott had campaigned on a policy
of honesty and integrity and maintained his govt would keep its
promises. That came unstuck very quickly as promise after promise
was broken. The voters who had given a resounding victory and big
margin to the Abbott led govt soon realised they had been deliberately
misled and the polls turned in favour of Labor and Bill Shorten.

Secondly, the leaks started in seriousness indicating dysfunction
within the govt something not unexpected given the likely simmering
tensions from Turnbull supporters and the general membership
who realised the govt would be annihilated at the next election as poll
after poll showed Labor in a big winning position.

After the Labor debacle of replacing sitting Prime Ministers the prospect
of the same happening under the Liberals, one would have thought would be
an impossibility. It would be madness. That it did happen, is indicative of the
poisonous atmosphere within the govt . It had to be absolutely putrid for a
PM elected with a big majority to be removed even sooner than occurred
with Rudd and Gillard. Nikki Savva’s aptly titled “Road to Ruin” highlighted
the dysfunction of the Abbott led govt. There were even inferences by Liberal
members, sordid in nature.

Abbott was replaced with Turnbull and that served its purpose of giving a huge
poll bounce to the LNP. However there was potential for this to be undone if
Abbott and his closest allies did not behave.

Well we all know what has happened since Turnbull saved some furniture
and provided a shaky one seat win into govt. The Senate is totally unpredictable
and the Opposition has been emboldened by the fact it came within a whisker
of victory. Abbott is still making noise in the media and the govt is struggling to
deliver any tangible agenda in the countries overall interests. The conservative right
are huge critics of the govt so it faces massive headwinds from within as well as
having to contend with a stronger Opposition than in the previous parliament.
The debacle yesterday with the Opposition rolling the govt on three occasions
is indicative of just how shaky the govt is. Today the govt is in damage control
forced to publicly blast those that caused yesterdays voting debacle including a
senior Minister.

As Bob Katter colourfully previously inferred, a one seat majority is shaky. Yesterday Mr Katter was proven how right he was.

The govt is in turmoil infected with a madness that will be difficult to rectify.

For the Liberals it all started when Tony Abbott rolled Malcolm Turnbull by one
vote first time round.