Not for the first time and not for the last time, Australia’s PM, Malcolm Turnbull is facing a nemesis of his own creation.

The first time round, as Liberal opposition leader, Turnbull’s innate desire to pander to inner-city lefties had him snuggle up to Labor (the party he was naturally designed to lead) and advocate for a broad-based Federal tax on CO2 emissions.

That dalliance cost him the leadership, as Tony Abbott fronted the Liberal/National party room, vowed to reject any kind of ‘carbon tax’ put up by Labor and to repeal any such tax if in government: Abbott took the leadership baton by a single vote. Abbott went on to win a landslide victory in 2013 and scrapped Labor’s ‘carbon tax’ the following year.

This time round, Tony Abbott (having been knifed as a sitting PM by Turnbull in September 2015) is merrily throwing hand grenades from the back…