Re your post which included; "... From where he sat he could see he had every chance of winning, ..."
That's it in a nutshell really. The return of the Coalition & all the populist stunts we have witnessed boil down to satiating Tony Abbott's raw lust for power.
But Abbott's record low approval rate of just 30% indicate that mainstream Australians see through his stunts & want nothing to do with the vacuous one.