Risks must be taken. Tony Abbott began his quest to lead the Liberals back into government from a long way behind. The pollsters had the party facing a virtual wipe out. Support was much, much lower than when John Howard got beaten. No doubt it was gloom about this seemingly inevitable defeat as much as dislike of Malcolm Turnbull supporting Labor’s emissions trading scheme that caused the parliamentary party to give Abbott a go. Desperate politicians tend to do desperate things.

For three months the new Opposition Leader has had pretty much a dream run – not so much because of anything he has said or done but because of the bungling of the Labor Government. The collapse of the Stockholm climate change talks without any major agreement and continued questioning of the credentials of climate change scientists helped neutralise that negative issue. The maladministration of the home insulation component of the economic stimulus package made a mockery of Kevin Rudd’s claims to be a super efficient political leader.

Yet despite all that, support for the Liberal-National coalition has improved only marginally. The polls show Labor is still at a point where it would be returned at an election with more rather than fewer members. And now the Prime Minister, with his apologies behind him and his travel bug gone, seems back to concentrating on establishing again his credentials as a leader bent on getting things done. The back to basics education curriculum and last week’s release of the plan to deal with public hospitals have Kevin Rudd back on track.

So what is an Opposition Leader to do? Playing it safe and just opposing things is not going to be enough. Tony Abbott needs some alternative visions. And where better to start than with something that tackles head-on the perception of some women that he is an unreconstructed chauvinist pig?

Showing off the wife and daughters was a good starting point. The appearance on 60 Minutes left no doubt that some of the chauvinism is being knocked out of him by an intelligent female quartet. Then to prove it he comes out with a plan to offer a fair dinkum form of paid parental leave. The way of financing it all might upset big business but big business doesn’t vote.

If a government is going to have a new tax then the best new tax is one that someone else has to pay. Businesses with profits above $5 million a year are as perfect a choice as a politician can find.

There are risks, yes, but without taking risks the Liberals have no chance of getting back into office by the end of this year. And Tony Abbott well knows it.

Kevin won’t mind. The Federal Government will not be all that perturbed at the increased prospect of Labor losing office in South Australia later this month. The Newspoll out this morning showing Labor and Liberal tied at 50 per cent apiece tends to confirm what the smaller samples of the Adelaide Advertiser single electorate polls have been showing. This election is going to be a close run thing.

The compensation for Labor is that should they lose state government they can expect a minor improvement in their federal vote in South Australia.

I’m sorry but I can’t resist it. The imagination at the Northern Territory News never ceases to amaze me. Take this morning’s page one:

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An absolutely masterful rewrite of old news. Yesterday’s story of a man who pleaded guilty to his 11th drive unlicensed charge and believed his troubles began when he was stabbed in the back while having s-x provided the perfect excuse to go back seven years and tell us this:

NT Supreme Court documents reveal Riddle was stabbed in the back while he was having -x and trying to organise a three-way orgy in November 2003.

Riddle was having intercourse with a woman in a caravan in Stuart Park, when he invited 19-year-old Terri Lee-Anne Roebuck — who was watching — to join in.

She then stabbed him in the back with a kitchen knife. Riddle paused in his s-xual activity and noticed the knife sticking out of his back.

The sentencing remarks noted that Riddle, while he was trying to get the knife out of his back, “noticed … that the female with whom he’d been having intercourse had left”.