For whatever reasons, Brendan Nelson’s poll figures are dismal, his impact nowhere to be seen, and under his leadership, the Opposition is going backwards. Senior Liberals need to learn from history and not make the same mistake they made with Howard in 2006: someone needs to tell him that it is time to go.

The Opposition Leader attempted to help Ms Neal with her bags during a flight from Sydney to Canberra last Thursday, prompting the furious Labor MP to demand to know when he was going to apologise for his earlier remarks. The clash was witnessed by the packed plane and deputy Liberal leader Julie Bishop, who intervened.

This week was a time for new beginnings. In the US, Barack Obama accepted the Democratic Party nomination, while Republican John McCain the little-known Sarah Palin as his running mate. In Australia, the Liberal leadership speculation entered an even more confusing stage, while the Labor Party outlined a number of new policies.

“I absolutely and totally support Brendan Nelson,” the former treasurer said. “He has been elected as the leader of the Liberal Party to take the Liberal Party to the next election and to win the next election, and he will have my total and utter support in doing that.

Not only is Brendan Nelson advocating big budget cuts, he is proposing the spending of billions more on pensions. Every time, however, he attacks the Rudd Government for dudding pensioners, he is indirectly accusing the Howard government of intending to do the very same thing, simply because Labor pilfered John Howard’s $4 billion pensioner policy during the last election campaign, embellished it a little, and then implemented in it full in the budget.

Only six months after the Coalition apparently dropped its support for nuclear power following its election defeat, Opposition Leader Brendan Nelson said there was a need for nuclear power but it would require bipartisan political support. “We remain open to having discussions with the Government if it chooses to change its position on nuclear power,” Dr Nelson said.

The group now has 65 Facebook members, including defeated Prime Minister John Howard’s former press secretary Ben Mitchell and several former Costello staffers. More than 200 invitations to join are pending - including to Mr Howard, The Australian’s columnist Janet Albrechtsen, Ms Bishop and Alexander Downer.

The Rudd Government has seized on calls by the Deputy Opposition Leader, Julie Bishop, and other senior Liberals to reopen the nuclear debate if Australia truly wants to reduce emissions. Some Coalition MPs argue that the best way to reduce emissions is to sell uranium to China for nuclear power so it is not reliant on coal to produce energy.

The Deputy Opposition Leader told Fairfax Media that if Australia is to position itself well for a future of low emission energy, “the nation must engage in a coherent debate about the nuclear option”.