Abbott uses speaker in quest for early election

These disruptive tactics are a return to Abbott's pre-campaign form. Throughout the election campaign he managed to hide the old "do or say anything to get a win" image he had on display before the campaign. Remember how he chopped and changed on climate change, first backing his then leader Malcolm Turnbull, and then deserting him and an emissions trading scheme in order to win his party's leadership?

Remember how in the election campaign he found every excuse not to present his promises to Treasury for costing? It was only after the election that he was forced to show them to Treasury on the insistence of the independents he was trying to win over. Was this the sort of behaviour the Opposition Leader had in mind when he told The 7.30 Report's Kerry O'Brien he doesn't always tell voters the gospel truth?

We could be forgiven for believing that when Abbott authorised the opposition to sign up for that parliamentary reform agreement, he intended honouring it only if he won the support of the independents and formed a government.

It's the old "whatever it takes" Abbott we are seeing again. It's clear he has one aim: to destabilise parliament. Why? Because he thinks he stands a better chance of getting an early election, which he believes he will win.

This wrecking approach may serve to destabilise parliament, but is that the stuff of a prime minister? The danger for Abbott is that he could seriously damage his image with the Australian public.

Australians are pragmatists when it comes to their leaders. They want someone who can build on the present to create a better future. The Abbott we see now isn't even able to point to strong moral conviction, something he could do at least with his conservative stand on social issues. How can he present so-called moral leadership when his present political stance is so starkly amoral?

So Abbott should be careful of what he wishes for. If he were to engineer an early election, he might not get the result he expects.

And while his special brand of confrontational politics - born out of his days in student politics - may suit his party now, he could find that it sits uncomfortably with the Liberal leadership when the next election looms.

Turnbull - or someone else untainted by the negative strategy Abbott is running - is well positioned to make a run at the opposition leadership some time in the 12 months leading up to the next election.

It may be that Abbott does all the dirty work but is forced out by a leader who can present some sort of Liberal vision to the electorate.

How ironic would it be if Abbott proved to be Turnbull's stalking horse.