Peter Martin takes a hard look at Joe Hockey and Turnbull's approval rating plunges further

Peter Martin writing in his blog of the same name reminds Australia that Joe Hockey has a more than spotty record as a minister in the Howard Government and a mixed record in the current shadow ministry.

When one looks at the three candidates (Hockey, Abbott and Andrews) posited as replacements for Malcolm Turnbull as Liberal Party Leader and thus Opposition Leader, Malcolm almost begins to look an attractive proposition - almost being the operative word.

That he is unpopular with voters is not an issue for the latest Newspoll results show Turnbull's approval rating has fallen to 14 per cent. Yet another nail in his political coffin.

Alternative names for the position of deputy leader are also quite frankly appalling. Peter Dutton for heavens sake - I seem to remember that he was one of those parliamentarians who walked out at the start of the Apology to the Stolen Generation and later he tried to abandon his electorate when redistribution made this seat unwinnable. As the current shadow minister for health and aging he has almost been a non-event when it comes to alternative policy.

None of the Liberal front bench have covered themselves with glory in this political bloodbath and the entire situation only highlights a lack of substance at the heart of the party.

While their Coalition partner, the virtually leaderless National Party, continually exposes itself as belonging to the lunatic fringe, which contains minor political parties on the Australian scene such as the rabidly intolerant Christian Democratic Party.

Today and tomorrow should provide an interesting and at times amusing spectacle, as the amended Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme and associated climate change bills come before the Senate.

It is hard to see an overall electoral win for the Coalition at the next federal election unless Labor is involved in a monumental scandal.

Photograph from ABC News