Kevin Andrews to mount leadership challenge!

[Matilda]

Kevin Andrews confirmed this morning that he will stand for the Liberal leadership if a spill is called tomorrow.
The man lives in Fantasyland.

Nobody with a brain is interested - it's still a puzzle why an intelligent man like Malcolm Turnbull (and he is
intelligent) wanted the job so badly in the first term after the Labor rout. But Tony Abbott and Joe Hockey,
serious contenders from the Right and the Left wings respectively, aren't putting their hands up now.

But dickhead Andrews, who made a dog's breakfast of selling the WorkChoices legislation and was shunted into
Immigration, where he got hopelessly snared in the Haneef case, thinks he's the man to unify the party. He's a
climate change denier from the Catholic Right with his head firmly up his own backside. If the Libs elect him, we'll
hear the cheers from Labor as far as Darwin.

Turnbull is an arrogant prick, and the opinion of political commentators last night was that his big problem is his
disdain for his own backbench. He's not interested in what they think, and he won't take the time to sit down and
persuade dissenters to support his point of view, and there's a great deal of anger at his attitude. But what, in
the name of all that's holy, gives Andrews the idea that anybody, anywhere, could seriously support him as leader?
He's a serial idiot, a narrow-minded, blinkered hardline conservative in the Howard image, but without Howard's
political nous.

This would be funny if it wasn't so serious.

Edit to add: Leadership spill in one hour, at 1.00 pm AEDT.

[Esra Star]

1. stalking horse nt

[gemini_liberal]

2. Damn, looks like we won't get to witness the Andrews era ha

This was an interesting episode actually. Nobody realistically believed that Andrews was going to win. What was interesting thoughis the fact that 35 members still voted for him over Turnbull. The very fact that a relic of the past, who really should've taken the lead of Costello and others and left, who would've had no chance of winning an election got 42% of the vote says that Turnbull's leadership is finished. Although this is first and foremost a backbencher revolt, as the previous poster mentioned, he is most likely a stalking horse for a more viable candidate (guess who. Clue: starts with T, ends with ony Abbott.) This is also an ideological battle. The conservatives have made it quite clear since the 90s that this is their party and they want the liberals out of it. The very fact that two wets have led the party post Howard has gotten under their skin. My bet is Turnbull will resign before too long, as the pressure is clearly getting to him (I saw him on morning TV the day after the ETS meeting and he was slurring a little. Although he was most likely just tired or slightly unwell, he did sound a little drunk.) My bet: Tony Abbott will partner with Christopher Pyne (a small-L liberal faction member who is known to want to replace Julie Bishop as deputy leader. Who, unlike some of the other small-Ls, is an anti-choice catholic) and go for the leadership and deputy leadership respectively.

I feel a little sorry for Malcolm. It's not his party anymore. The modern day Australian Liberal Party is all about being as much a clone of the US Republican Party as possible. He is a very intelligent man, who is very rational and believes in what he is doing. While it is a flaw that he tends to be quite authoritarian and unilateral in his leadership, but he is one of the few in that party who clearly does want to see something done about climate change but that coalition of trolls will never let it happen. They see him as their new Billy Snedden. (A lot of Liberals fantasize about a repeat of 1975 with this government.)

long term prediction: years down the track he'll join the likes of Fraser and Hewson, in being alienated by and critical of the party he once led.

[Matilda]

3. The Libs actually voted for "anybody but Malcolm"

in the vote for a spill. If Andrews had really been standing, I doubt he'd have done that well.

I agree with your thoughts about Turnbull - he's actually trying to take the party back to the centre, and the main
opposition is coming from those who hanker after the Howard days. Of the two main contenders for the job in the
future, Hockey is also a moderate and Abbott the old-style conservative. I don't think either of them is capable
of knocking off Rudd though - the election of either could only be good for Labor. Hockey would face the same
problems as Malcolm, and I don't believe Abbott can win over the voters.

Malcolm's also got problems with some who actually support him because of his failure to discuss the legislation
with them. His attitude is summed up in his reply to a question about Wilson Tuckey's call for a spill: "I don't
care about Wilson Tuckey". He has to care, and it's this high-handedness that's pissing off his own supporters.

It also seems that his political instincts are poorly honed, and that's probably fatal. It could be lack of
experience, but it probably has more to do with his own hubris, and that's what will will bring him down.

[anakie]

4. Kevin Andrews

ROFLMFAO. And don't forget amongst his 'successes' his sponsoring of the legislation to overturn the NT's euthanasia laws back in the late 90's.

I would have loved for him to succeed; dooming the Liberals to opposition for the foreseeable future.


Peace