Turnbull poses threat to Rudd

October 4, 2008, 6:54pm,  84 views

Playing catch up here, I haven’t commented since Malcolm Turnbull’s ascension to the Liberal Party leadership.

I liked Brendan Nelson and thought he did pretty well, without much support. Turnbull is a better match for Kevin Rudd though.

Rudd is too technical. He wasn’t scrutinised properly before the 2007 election, and may prove the first Prime Minister since Scullin to lose an election after one term.

Labor has targeted Turnbull as wealthy and elitist. Invoking the tall-poppy syndrome is poor form and will almost certainly be rejected in the community.

Despite being caught off guard by the leadership spill, Turnbull has hit the ground running and shifted the debate from personalities to policies.

He wisely declined the Prime Minister’s invitation to work co-operatively on the republic issue and focused instead on the economy.

Mr Rudd knows the republic debate is divisive for the Coalition. Turnbull knows the Labor Government is vulnerable on the economy.