What now for the Liberals?

The ALP are going to be in power for a long time. Labor are in government in all States and the Liberals have lost the resources that only a government can have. Expect the opposition to start fighting among each other , oppositions usually do , look at the recent history of the Labor party and the previous years of Liberal opposition, remember the "Wet" vrs "Dry" battles of the 1980's ? Theres going to be more such battles during their time in opposition. In fact, I doubt the party will survive in its present form, there has been talk of the Nationals and Liberals combining into one party for years. The Nats are down to only 10 seats, so I wouldn't be surprised if it happens.

Its going to be a thankless task for the next Liberal leader. He knows he will probably loss the next election which will mean he will be replaced afterwards. Yet he must unite the party and develop the policies required to form government. His best hope is to do enough of an impressive job that the party will come back to him in the future as they did with Howard.

With Costello not contesting the only serious contenders in my view are Malcolm Turnbull and Brendan Nelson. Fortunately both are highly capable men. Turnbull is a self made millionaire, parliaments richest man, and gets on well with the free marketeers at the Centre for Independent Studies.. Nelson was the best Defense minister we had in years. He cut through the red tape and quickly ordered the C-17s and Super Hornets and came up with the gap idea to increase army numbers. I just hope they don't pick Tony Abbott, the sooner they get rid of that clown the better, surely theres a more capable candidate for his safe seat. Having said that, Abbott may be a useful deputy, his social conservatism could balance out a more liberal leader.

However every cloud has a silver lining. The Rudd victory gives the state libs the best chance they have had in years.. No longer will Labor governments be able to blame their problems on Howard. Nor will they have an unpopular federal Liberal party policy to beat the opposition with. Having wall to wall Labor is unstable and I expect to see change after Rudd's honeymoon is over.

Update: I wrote most of the above on Sunday. Since then Turnbull, Nelson and Abbott have all thrown their hat in the leadership ring.