Brendan Nelson

An edited version of this letter appeared in The Australian on 17 September 2008. I reproduce the full version here for your reading pleasure.

I am not in the habit of praising members of the Liberal Party of Australia. However, I shall make an exception today: I would like to express admiration for the way that Brendan Nelson managed the leadership of the Liberal Party for the short time that he held the position.

Dr Nelson was handed the poisoned chalice of the leadership of a defeated and demoralised party that was suffering a hangover from the malign influence of John Howard. His political opponent was enjoying an opulent electoral honeymoon. Nelson was elected to the leadership as an interim option who would be disposed of by his own party at some point in the near future. Right from the very start, challengers to his position were licking their lips hungrily as they waited impatiently to pick at his political carcass and claim the dubious spoils of Liberal leadership.

In this challenging environment, Nelson managed to forge a small degree of party unity and was able to score a few relatively effective political points on some of the government's sillier schemes, such as Fuel Watch. Most importantly, however, Nelson seemed to maintain his good humour and civility throughout his tenure.

At the end of the day Nelson failed to damage the credibility of the government in the eyes of a star struck electorate. However, I ask myself, "Would anyone else have done better given the circumstances?" I conclude that the answer to this question is "no" and it would have been highly unlikely that any other leader would have maintained such decorum as Dr Nelson in the process. It is for these reasons that I give polite applause to Dr Nelson as his term as Liberal leader comes to an end.