Another divisive referendum out of tune with national thinking

This constitutional corpse was disinterred in 2007, when a desperate John Howard, clutching at a straw proffered to him by an opportunistic Noel Pearson, promised to revive it if re-elected. He wasn't, and we were spared the embarrassment of seeing an otherwise highly respected prime minister twice make a fool of himself on the same subject.

Rather than sheepishly following his then leader, Tony Abbott should now have the courage to say that Howard was just plain wrong.

Apart from speaking the truth, he would get a great many political marks particularly from the "Howard battlers" for doing so.

That Howard experience is none the less instructive.

It is no accident that a Prime Minister increasingly seen as not up to the job, and whose resulting desperation is already showing, should once again trot out an old grey mare who not only "ain't what she used to be", but was never any good in the first place.

When Gillard, like her predecessor, shortly goes to destruction at the hands of her increasingly restless party, we can only pray that this divisive referendum rubbish goes with her.