The sign in backbencher Malcolm Turnbull's electoral office yesterday when Tony Abbott was reshuffling his frontbench
A week is a long time in politics, but it’s not long enough for the Liberal Party’s new bomb-chucker, Malcolm Turnbull, to build a bridge and get over his lost leadership.
A quick stroll by his electoral office on the borders of Edgecliff, Double Bay and Woollahra yesterday revealed that while Tony Abbott was shuffling his front bench and reshaping his cabinet, Turnbull still was touting himself as the “Leader of the Opposition”, as this picture shows.
Not one, but three posters with Turnbull’s old title were displayed in the windows on the Wentworth electorate office fronting on to Edgecliff Road – while his beaming dial was on show in the front window (without the grand title).
The front entry to Malcolm Turnbull's office in the seat of Wentworth yesterday
Exactly one week earlier, Abbott ousted him from the top Coalition job by one vote and since then Turnbull has been on a mission to denounce Abbott and others in the party who he believes are climate change “deniers”.
On Monday Turnbull launched a scathing attack on his blog in which he called Abbott’s alternative to the emissions trading scheme “bullshit”.
Turnbull, not known for his shyness, said that the party was now without “integrity”, had no policy on climate change, and that he would be voting with the government when the ETS bill goes back before the Senate in February, 2010.
Meanwhile, Abbott has promised to give the Government “the fright of its life” with his new team.
And if you believe the chairman of the United Nation’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Ranjendra Pachauri, Abbott was already having an impact, with his scepticism motivating other nay-sayers around the world.
I’m betting Turnbull would hate that: Abbott being recognised on the global stage less than a week after ascending the throne.
