Nelson quits politics

Yesterday Brendan Nelson announced he will quit politics at the end of the month. And with his departure from Parliament, the former leader of the opposition receives the nice media comments that were denied him, when he was doing a fine job: The Age: “Nelson too good a bloke for hard truths of politics”:

“Dr Nelson, defence minister at the time, was to those soldiers and just about everyone who got to meet him in his numerous public roles, a good bloke.
"He was personable, intelligent and worked hard at getting on top of the detail required in a high-profile career.”

He never received such positive comments after he was elected against all odds in November 2007 as Leader of Her Majesty's Loyal Australian Opposition. The media would have preferred the republican Malcolm Turnbull over the Monarchist Brendan Nelson and they were very upset that their forecast was proven wrong.

Nelson as the “darling of the [Liberal] party’s left” (The Age, 26th August 2009) was vehemently despised by the republican and Liberal politician (and "wannabe" MP) Greg Barns:

“Brendan Nelson on the other hand is shallow, has swung to the Right simply because it is opportune to do so, and is a leader of whom Minchin and Abbott approve. Nelson believes in only one thing – himself. His career is a testament to that fact. He is a Faustian character.”

The leader of the opposition
When Nelson was elected leader of the opposition, the The Sydney Morning Herald wrote: "Dr Nelson defeated Mr Turnbull, the former environment minister, by 45 votes to 42 in the ballot.
"But the closeness of the result immediately raised speculation both inside and outside the party that the matter was far from settled and Mr Turnbull would bide his time before making another attempt."

Nelson was doomed when he announced on 1st December 2007 as a newspaper headline put it: I won't support republic: Nelson

“Dr Nelson said today that like his predecessor as Liberal leader, John Howard, he did not support moving to a republic.

"’I think the current arrangements in Australia, as we've seen over the last week or so, serve our nation very well,’ he told ABC television.”

From then on he had no chance to win over the media, but I won’t bother you with too many quotations.

They had their field day in September 2008, when their republican darling Malcolm Turnbull finally managed to get Nelson's job.

The Daily Telegraph: "Mr Turnbull becomes the first republican to lead the Liberal Party but the appointment could create a split amongst conservatives.

"He said, after defeating incumbent Brendan Nelson by a vote of 45 to 41, that he would not push the republican issue until the Queen, who is more popular in Australia than the monarchy itself, was gone from the throne.

"Mr Turnbull chaired the Australian Republican Movement from 1993 to 2000 and led the failed 1999 campaign to make Australia a republic in a referendum."

And as we now know, Turnbull tried to join the Australian Labor Party, after the failed attempt to bring down the Monarchy. A logical step, considering that the ALP has a fiercely republican platform. What a pity he didn’t make it into the ALP’s rank and file, because whatever Turnbull gets involved with is bound to fail. His republican stunt was rebutted by the Australian people and the cursed Liberal Party will be crushed with Malcolm as their candidate for prime ministership.

And there goes Brendan Nelson, a really nice chap, as everybody says today, oh well, may be excluding Greg Barns who seems to hate him with a passion.