The new Opposition front bench rewards those who supported the new leader, but does not do so at the expense of the Coalition’s strengths. Malcolm Turnbull may have the massive ego that his enemies like to complain about, but it evidently has not prevented him from becoming a shrewder judge of power plays in the party room than he was 10 months ago.

The most spectacular victim of Malcolm Turnbull’s cabinet reshuffle was Tony Smith. The former Peter Costello supporter, who voted for Turnbull last year but switched to Brendan Nelson last week, paid a heavy price by being given the role of shadow assistant treasurer. Smith will be back at some stage but his only consolation yesterday was platitudes from Turnbull about being part of a crack financial team.

Victorian Andrew Robb has been given the elevated portfolio of infrastructure, federal-state relations and emissions trading. The former foreign affairs spokesman said the Opposition would develop policies that would challenge Labor’s approach on many issues. Mr Robb said today that he was well-placed to develop bold ideas in the area because Labor was failing to develop environmental policies with the economy front and centre.

The big losers in Malcolm Turnbull’s shadow cabinet reshuffle are Nelson backers Nick Minchin, dumped from defence to communications, and Tony Smith, who has been dumped from education to the assistant treasury role, although at least it is an economic portfolio. Arguably Tony Abbott, who wanted to move from the welfare portfolio, and Andrew Robb, who wanted treasury and got infrastructure, haven’t done terribly well either.

Ms. Bishop exercised her right as deputy Liberal leader to claim the treasury prize, and becomes the first woman to hold the treasury portfolio on either side of politics. Meanwhile, the Opposition Leader has dumped Bronwyn Bishop, Jo Gash and Pat Farmer from the shadow ministry.

Kevin Rudd’s week-long visit to New York to address the UN General Assembly will mark his second visit to the US this year. Labor has been in office for about 300 days and the new Prime Minister has spent 50 of them overseas. Former prime minister John Howard spent 18 nights overseas in his first year.

The Opposition Leader has decided he cannot place Joe Hockey in the workplace relations role because he held the portfolio during the Howard years. Mr. Turnbull is also likely to dump key Brendan Nelson supporters and reward several ambitious backbenchers who backed him in this week’s leadership ballot with posts in the outer ministry.

It is understood that Brendan Nelson is trying to end the damaging speculation regarding the Liberal leadership issue. However, one source predicts that treasury spokesman Malcolm Turnbull has the numbers to take the top job. Mr Turnbull only narrowly lost the leadership to Dr Nelson last year, and his supporters are now counting numbers for him.

Among Coalition voters, almost four times as many prefer former treasurer Peter Costello than the current Opposition Leader, Brendan Nelson. The only concern for Mr Costello is that 24 per cent of people who voted Labor at the last election say they would be less likely to vote for the Coalition if the Member of Higgins were leader.

Andrew Robb, who engineered Mr Howard’s 1996 victory, proposed during APEC that a delegation be organised to ask the then-prime minister to resign. Initially, there was “a lot of interest” from his colleagues, but it dissipated on the following day when a Newspoll showed the Coalition’s position had improved marginally.