Nowhere to run. Nowhere to hide.

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Tony Abbott has been trying to run and hide from a spill. Well now its here and there is no where to run.
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A spill was definitely going to happen when after Abbott’s NPC speech, criticism of his government continued from inside his government. It became crystal clear when Warren Truss and the Nationals gave a presser to throw their support behind Abbott. Pity for Abbott is the Nationals will not be in the Liberal Party room on Tuesday. Nor will John Howard. Or Jeff Kennett. Or the talking mouth pieces for the IPA. Or the commentators. Or even you or me. The only people that have a say in if Abbott stays as Prime Minister is his own party.
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Abbott said in his NPC presser that its not the job for a party to throw out a Prime Minister, but the people. He has said this again and again more frequently since and he had said it before in one way or another. Now while this is an argument he can try and pose to the electorate through his press conferences, it is not one that his party will accept at all.
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Even today in Townsville, Abbott was again making that claim. That the people and not the party are the ones to have the say. His Deputy, Julie Bishop begged to differ.
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“I was elected the deputy of this party in 2007 and again in 2013 and I understand from my colleagues that they look to me for stability and certainty as deputy.

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What is Julie trying to say here. If Julie is of the consideration that it is the people that elect her as does Tony, then she forgot to mention the election in 2010. Julie is referring to being elected by her party. In the party room. She was elected in 2007, and again in 2013. She avoided the leadership spill in 2009 and there was no spill for Deputy. So what Julie is saying is Abbott is full of shit.
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She also suggests that her colleagues look to her for stability. Not to Tony Abbott. Ouchies.
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So if Abbott’s big debating point on Tuesday is the party should not vote on their leader, then he will lose this argument in his own party room who know the truth. That leaves Tony with his other argument. That he will change. Be more consultative. This too the party have heard. On more than one occasion from Tony. So while the viewer at home may be swayed by his promise to change, his own party know he has a perchance of breaking promises. In fact, that’s part of the problem. He doesn’t know when to stop. Why promise one road when you can promise a network. Why promise no cuts to one thing when you can make promises about no cuts for 7 things in ten seconds. Why would he do as the speaker asked him once to withdraw without qualification when he can just go the boot some more and as a result was booted from question time.
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Abbott has been telling the party room for months he will change. And he didnt. And as a result he resorted to barnacle scrapping. And his longest press conference in his political career. But then he was back to doing all the stuff he was doing before. He says its business as usual. He has not comprehended that his business as usual is the problem itself.
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So where does this leave Tony? He cant use the people elect argument to his party room with success. He cant tell the party room he will change with any success. He can’t say his policies are working in the party room with any success. So that leaves him with nothing.
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With nothing to stand behind, Abbott has no where to hide.
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A. Ghebranious February 2015