Australian politics at the Federal level has been unstable for about a decade now. Every so often, though far too often, a Prime Minister is overthrown, not by the concerted efforts of the Opposition Party, but by the Government itself. Since 2007, no one Prime Minister has served out his (or her) full term; the latest casualty being Malcolm Turnbull, today.

The last few days in Canberra have been the most extraordinary political circus, a case of nobody really knowing what was going on though there was plenty of speculation as to why it was. It seemed that the glowering mean-spirited conservative Peter Dutton was likely to unseat the Prime Minister, having made a wounding assault in a party room vote last Tuesday. The past few days saw the very essence of power slip from Turnbull's grasp, but in the end, the departing Prime Minister seems to have pulled off a little coup of his own. By holding up a second spill for a vital 48 hours, he appears to have engineered the defeat of Dutton and the election of Scott Morrison. The conservatives have been thwarted, for the time being.

During the early stages of the Cultural Revolution in China, Mao used far more indirect means to attack political opponents. "Pointing at the mulberry to revile the ash", drawing attention to one thing in order to attack another, was a more subtle ploy than the direct attack employed in Canberra this week. It's better, of course, to try to come to some kind of consensus about an issue, policy or direction in the first place, but people who go into politics tend to be ambitious and often as not, vastly inflate their capacity.

We have an actual election involving the people (ie, the electors) next year, so yet another Prime Minister may emerge, if the new incumbent cannot bring home the bacon.