That abyssal, sinking feeling

Peter van Onselen notes some scuttlebutt one would rather hope is not true...

One well-placed Liberal source told The Australian that Abbott would rather see Labor continue to bleed politically with ongoing boat arrivals. If that means deaths at sea continue, he said, so be it. Perhaps Abbott thinks such tragedies reflect more badly on Labor than his own side because the government appears responsible for the mess courtesy of changing John Howard's asylum-seekers policies in the first place.

If true, the boat-people ‘debate’ has officially become toxic and beyond hope of resolution redemption.

Perhaps this is waxing overly nostalgic, but I’d never have thought Mr Abbott would almost have me pining for the more genteel brutality of Mr Howard.