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Look Good In Leather

By Rupert Trustcott-Hughes on September 19, 2013 in Other

Photo: Tony Jones

Photo: Tony Jones


The election has been announced and nearly everyone in the Eastern Suburbs is thinking the same thing: why the hell are we voting for Malcolm to be our local member only and not our prime minister?

Tony Abbott is quite clearly a prize turkey, and frankly, if he doesn’t lift his game quick smart, there is a chance that Kevin will be roasting him like one three months shy of Christmas.

Meanwhile, everything that Turnbull touches turn to gold, which goes some way to explaining the considerable wealth that has allowed him to call himself a neighbour of mine here in Point Piper.

There is no safer seat in the country than that of Wentworth. When the Liberals were either losing seats, or losing ground in those they held, back in 2007, Malcolm increased his majority. Given that his closest rival this time around is a former A Country Practice actress with less than 700 Facebook ‘likes’, it’s safe to say that the margin he enjoys is under little threat.
Popular opinion seems to suggest that if Turnbull was leading the Libs, Kevin and his cronies would be reduced to also-rans, but instead we’re faced with a Tony Abbott led Liberal party that should win, maybe.

What’s even more worrying is that if Tony doesn’t stuff it up, Our Malcolm will face the ignominy of playing second fiddle to the Mad Monk for at least one term, maybe more, and it’s very unlikely that the Libs will want to indulge in the leadership musical chairs made famous by their opponents.

Thus, the rumour mill has already started to turn with talk of Turnbull hanging up the boots shortly after the election if his party does take home the chocolates. If the gossip is to be believed, another six years or so is said to be too long for Malcolm to wait for a tilt at the top job. Whether or not these murmurings are to be believed, I will leave up to you.

One thing is for sure though, when Mr Turnbull fronted the ABC’s Q&A in a leather jacket back in 2010, a wardrobe choice that Turnbull joked was his strategy to court the informal vote, he started to win a new legion of followers and his popularity has snowballed since.

I was really hoping to illustrate some kind of link here between Malcolm and his leather jacket and Joseph and his technicolour dreamcoat, but I feel I could be drawing a long bow, especially given that Malcolm auctioned off the jacket in question after he lost weight and it failed to fit him any longer.

Still, the fact remains that Malcolm is the prime minister that the people want and there is little doubt that it’s a role he’d like to fill. Maybe if Abbott flaunted his wares in leather instead of lycra, the public may have warmed to him a little more, though it’s probably fair to say that fashion choices are the least of his worries.