As Australia's serving and former prime ministers, Malcolm Turnbull and Tony Abbott, more than any other MPs, should realise the importance of putting the national interest, and that of the government, ahead of personal resentments and frustrations.
This week's political debate should have been all about workplace relations reform. But the benefits of these reforms were overshadowed this week by the Abbott-Turnbull sideshow, which heightened the impression of poisonous disunity in government ranks.
Should the public rancour continue, the Prime Minister and Mr Abbott will do Australians a serious disservice, distracting from the government's main tasks of economic reform and budget repair. Continuing chaos would play into the opposition's hands and take pressure off the crossbenchers who should be supporting efforts to cut spending and improve productivity.
