Australia, where leadership speculation never ends

And while we’re talking party tensions, political history is throwing up some fascinating echoes.

And while we’re talking party tensions, political history is throwing up some fascinating echoes.

Today, Nine Network, yesterday:

Karl Stefanovic: Are you sure you’re not getting ready for a tilt (at the leadership)?

Anthony Albanese: Karl, good try. But the truth is that the only division in Australian politics is on the other side.

Stefanovic: Christopher, you must be delighted that Anthony liked your budget so much.

Christopher Pyne: Well Karl, Anthony’s thrown Bill under the bus this week and that speech marks the beginning of Anthony Albanese’s campaign for the Labor leadership because Bill Shorten’s numbers in the polls are so bad and have been consistently so bad that he’s holding back the Labor vote. Anthony knows it and so does the rest of the Labor Party. The truth is that what Anthony said this week is exactly what the government’s been saying, that it’s a centrist, pragmatic budget that is sensible, dealing with the issues as they arise, paying for the National Disability Insurance Scheme, reducing taxes, and Anthony Albanese’s completely endorsed the budget whereas Bill Shorten tried to attack it.

Albanese: Absolutely untrue and you know it. Christopher. It was a damn­ing indictment of the budget.

Sprinkle in a little Latin:

Pyne: If you read your speech you went through ad seriatim the items in the budget and said that they were centrist, pragmatic, sensible and that Labor should …

Albanese: No, I didn’t. I went through and spoke about the gap between the rhetoric and the reality.

Pyne: … opposite of what Bill Shorten said and as you know it, you fired the starter gun this week. And good luck to you! You’ll be much better than Bill. At least you believe in things. At least you’ve got some conviction.

Stefanovic: I like this.

Pyne: It’s a compliment.

Pyne reimagines how a race is run:

You’ve fired the starter gun … You’re out of the blocks!

That other thing, though:

Stefanovic: OK, Christopher. You’re talking about Bill Shorten’s ratings but yours aren’t too flash either. Your 12th consecutive poll loss. Things are pretty bleak.

Pyne: Not at all.

Albanese: You’re on 47 per cent!

Pyne: The budget has been well received. You know, John Howard spent much of the time of his 11 years in government behind in the polls because the only poll that matters is election day. We only have to make a sale every three years. So therefore we don’t have to worry about the polls.

Stefanovic: That’s not necessarily true. Malcolm Turnbull blamed the polls for getting rid of Tony Abbott so there’s obviously a bit more to it.

Pyne: No. Not really.

Stefanovic: Of course it was.

Albanese: Yes, it was.

Pyne: That’s a rewriting of history.

It’s all right, they’re mates. Strewth in The Australian, October 27 last year:

During his launch of Anthony Albanese’s biography, Bob Hawke took the time to take the mickey out of Christopher Pyne. Having offered a few observations that severely tested his own composure, Hawke chuckled loudly as he referred to the book: “Christopher Pyne is quoted as saying: ‘(Albo’s) the only friend I’ve got in the Labor Party.’ ” Whereupon up piped the voice of Albo’s colleague Tony Burke with a loud “Hear, hear.”

Number of days since Malcolm Turnbull deposed Tony Abbott:

613.

Number of days after Julia Gillard deposed Kevin Rudd that she faced the “empty chair challenge” on February 27, 2012:

613.

Newspoll, February 23-26, 2012:

2PP: Coalition ahead 53-47.

Most recent Newspoll, May 11-14:

2PP: Labor ahead 53-47.