It might be time, as the Prime Minister Tony Abbott fervently enjoins, for his party and the electorate to "move on" from his near-death experience at the hands of his caucus last week and to turn minds to the practical problems of government and the challenges that face Australia.
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But those shifting their gaze forwards will hardly be reassured by the Prime Minister's statements on Sunday that he had no idea of the extent of backbench, party and electoral unrest about his performance until he was faced with the caucus revolt. He suggested this in part explanation for his summary sacking of Philip Ruddock as his chief whip - the whip being one of the party functionaries supposed to keep the prime minister, and other ministers, aware of feeling among those whose electoral fortunes turn on the government's success in identifying and articulating problems, in addressing them with appropriate solutions, and in explaining and defending the way it has been done.
Abbott's high personal regard for Ruddock, who, with 40 years' service in Parliament is Father of the House of Representatives, is apparently unchanged, but it seems Ruddock was also unaware of the depth of concern and despair about Abbott's leadership, or, if aware, failed to convey the news adequately to Abbott.
If this was indeed the problem, Abbott has a much bigger one. He has long been accused of having a tin ear for popular opinion, but that, generally, implies a form of incapacity to hear and sing the song the public is hearing, rather than any form of actual deafness to a very loud noise.
His government spends millions in commissioned public opinion poll research, and the party organisation spends even more. Many more millions are spent on public relations personnel and programs, including, these days, close political supervision and spin on the disclosure of every fact the public is thought to be entitled to know.
Media management extends to non-stop monitoring of material put into the public domain by "old media", such as newspapers, magazines, radio and television, as well as new media. Both mediums have been reporting and publishing increasingly critical commentary on government actions and policies, including about its management of the economy, its policies on health, higher education and schools, on social welfare and benefits, as well as on leadership and the personality of Abbott himself.
Assuming that Abbott did not notice a non-stop succession of opinion polls showing his declining stature in the electorate, or the "electronic graffiti" getting stuck into him, he has also had the benefit of a good deal of advice from a former cheer squad in the Murdoch press, which, hitherto has been very reluctant to concede any error on the part of the Prime Minister.
The unpopularity of the government and broad issues of trust have also emboldened senators to reject unpopular government measures, confident that they will not be punished for this by the electorate. Not entirely by coincidence, the Liberal Party brand at state level appears to have taken an enormous thrashing at recent elections, with some of the victims, which is to say personal and professional colleagues and friends of the Prime Minister, blaming, in part at least, poor prime ministerial performance and unpopularity.
It would be amazing and unforgivable if it were to prove that Ruddock had failed to bring such matters to the attention of Abbott, his cabinet colleagues, and his private office, but, if one assumes that there was at least some transmission of intelligence, it might be even more amazing that, somehow, no one, in the Prime Minister's office, the cabinet, the ministry or Abbott himself was listening.
It turns out, at least according to Abbott's comments on Channel 10 at the weekend, that Abbott might have contributed to a lack of understanding of backbench unhappiness, which, he conceded, also implied unhappiness and worry in the general Australian community.
"I suppose, last year, I was so focused on economic security issues, on national security issues, that I didn't have enough time to talk to my colleagues," he said. "This obviously, was a terrible mistake. It was a terrible failing. It's not something I'm ever going to repeat."
His new whipping arrangements represented an attempt to make sure that he was now always "very well aware" of what was going on inside the party.
Let's hope the Prime Minister does not get distracted again.
