Anna Caldwell: No public appetite for Liberal leadership spill drama
Gladys Berejiklian has shown a lack of strategic nous through the abortion debate, allowing the party to split violently down the middle and while she may get through Tuesday’s spill, don’t mistake just how much skin will have been lost.
Opinion
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Gladys Berejiklian’s leadership has been wounded — it doesn’t matter if she survives the spill motion on Tuesday.
Just six months from a crushing victory, the Liberal party is in tatters with rebel MPs willing to humiliate the premier over her poor handling of an abortion bill.
But nothing is hurt more by this bitter infighting than the Liberal brand.
This is a dramatic snatching of defeat from the jaws of victory — only made more sensational given the fact that Labor is a dithering mess writhing in the spotlight of the state’s anti corruption body.
Senior government ministers were last night scoffing at the absurdity of three rebel MPs trying to take down a premier who just won an election.
And yet, they also were fully aware of just how serious their problem was. The public has no appetite for this kind of political theatre.
Berejiklian should have never let it come to this and has shown a lack of strategic nous through the abortion debate, allowing the party to split violently down the middle.
The Premier may get through Tuesday’s spill — but don’t mistake just how much skin will have been lost.
The conservatives are seething and they are out for the premiership — whether it’s today or in two years time. And that includes even some who will vote for Berejiklian.
Treasurer Dominic Perrottet is the man conservatives want to install and this brutal war over abortion will help him when the time comes.