Turnbull names team with economy in its sights
Sep 23rd, 2008 | By David Harper | Category: OpinionThe Age Editorial: The experience of choosing a frontbench team ought to remind any prime minister or opposition leader that no politician is an island. Allies can be rewarded with plum jobs, and enemies and rivals consigned to the back bench if they have not chosen to go there themselves.
But no party ever divides so neatly, and new leaders will have to keep some on the front bench they might rather have done without. There is the need to avoid creating a clutch of malcontents on the back bench, with plenty of free time in which to plot a leadership coup. And, most importantly, an effective front bench must have talented people on it, the right people in the right jobs, whatever their personal allegiances in the party may be.