Party Games: Leadership lessons learned? You’d better not believe

OPINION: Some people love the smell of election polls in the morning but it feels too early to get too excited.

SOME people love the smell of election polls in the morning but it feels too early to get too excited.

Things are said to be 50/50 or one point up or down either way. This is well within the margin of error which means things are anywhere between 46 and 54 for Labor or the Coalition so take your pick.

Elsewhere we have the first egregious whopper of the campaign. Labor’s spokeswoman Penny Wong — having her second go round in this role on radio this morning said the ALP had learnt its lesson about dumping leaders.

Sorry Senator, that’s just a big fib.

First, Labor did it twice in just three years. After dumping Kevin Rudd in June, 2010 a group of insurgents went on to undermine Julia Gillard up until June, 2013 when she was knifed — by some of the same people.

Wong should remember this because she was one of the chief agitators from her state of South Australia. A few senior Labor people still hold a grudge against Wong for this.

So no lesson learnt there.

Did they learn a lesson after dumping two leaders? No, they did not.

Malcolm Turnbull visited the Brisbane Produce Markets, at Rocklea south of Brisbane. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen

Bill Shorten visited Tasmania on the weekend. Picture: Scott Gelston

Despite some of the hardest rules to get around for replacing a Labor leader — Rudd’s parting gift — those trained rhesus monkeys from the New South Wales right wing were at it again in February this year.

They started plotting the overthrow of Bill Shorten, even using their trademark trick of leaking some damaging polling.

Shorten was saved when the Turnbull chariot lost a wheel and got the wobbles.

Learnt their lesson? Don’t believe a word of it.

Originally published as Party Games: Leadership lessons learned? You’d better not believe