If any of Australia's politicians ever wonder why the public seems to hold them in such low regard they need look no further than this week in Canberra.
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On Monday we had the unedifying spectacle of the Prime Minister abandoning what he had previously said were non-negotiable policy positions on energy in order to appease hard liners on his back bench and in the Cabinet.
On Tuesday almost half his parliamentary colleagues voted against having him lead them to the next election.
If his intention in declaring the leadership spill had been to cut the Abbott-powered, Dutton leadership challenge off at the knees he was wrong.
That opportunity was lost months ago, possibly even before the Longman result revealed the Coalition's serious problems in Queensland and raised the possibility Dutton, who only holds Dickson by 1.6 per cent, could lose his seat.
This is all about the personal survival of individual members of the governing clique and their desire to retain the perquisites of office for as long as possible.
Turnbull's desire to hang on to the top job has trumped his commitment to any matter of policy or principle. He proved that when he gave way on the NEG in a vain bid to keep the dissidents at bay.
Ditto for Dutton who chose to sacrifice his Home Affairs portfolio in order to improve his chances of retaining his own seat by chasing the leadership.
All the Liberals who voted with him on Tuesday had made a calculated decision they would be better off under a new leader.
It is, in other words, all about them. This is a pattern of behaviour we have seen time and time again over the past decade. First it was Rudd and Gillard. Then it was Gillard and Rudd. When Abbott, who had successfully rolled Turnbull as the Opposition Leader in 2009, won the 2013 election, the stage was set for Turnbull to roll Abbott as the Prime Minister.
This week is the latest in a series of unfortunate events that have meant no elected Prime Minister has served out their term since John Howard in 2007.
On both sides of politics far more time and effort has been devoted to working out who gets which job than to running the country.
Voters are disenchanted given, in the words of one commentator, "the country is on fire".
Soaring power prices, wage stagnation, drought, climate change, infrastructure grid lock in our major cities, homelessness and corporate corruption are just some of the challenges crying out to be addressed.
Thanks to the Coalition's empty war chest and its failure to preselect its candidates early and the looming Victorian and NSW elections in November and March respectively, Turnbull can't go to the polls early. He finds himself with few options.
With more and more Coalition MPs now concentrating on their own survival and Dutton free to challenge from the backbench at a time of his choosing, Turnbull will be doing well to survive the week.
When he does go his legacy will be a mystery.
The man who it turned out believed in nothing and nobody has run out of people who believe in him.
