It's often said that the job of oppositions is to oppose. But that's not strictly true. More fundamentally it is to propose alternative policy and, in so doing, demonstrate the credentials to govern. An opposition focused exclusively on thwarting the government is unlikely to convince the electorate that it is itself worthy of government.
At this stage, many commentators are cynical about the possibility that new opposition leader Tony Abbott might make a constructive contribution to public life in Australia. With good reason they see that he is more determined to stand in the way of Rudd's legislative program than build the foundations for his own.
The results of the weekend's Higgins and Bradfield bielections suggest the electorate could be willing to trust Abbott to lead the Liberals towards being a viable alternative. Australians are prepared to look at the positives of what he has to offer.
Last year he surprised many by spending three weeks in the remote Aboriginal community of Coen in far north Queensland. He has since made a further visit to an indigenous community. Father Brian McCoy, a Jesuit who has spent a lifetime attempting to understand indigenous Australians, was full of praise for Abbott's ability to appreciate the complexity of their lives when he wrote about Abbott's stay for Eureka Street.
'What I liked about Tony Abbott going to Coen was that he gave himself a chance to learn... I sense he has a genuine interest in the lives of the people. His reflections left me with a hope and a response.'
Abbott himself said in his blog:
'It is possible to change some things quickly but substantially improving the key indicators of Aboriginal disadvantage is more likely to take a few decades than a few years. The key is getting Aboriginal people into real jobs.'
It remains to be seen if such openness is the exception or the rule for Abbott, and whether he can incorporate insights he gained, into constructive policy that points to better health, education and justice for indigenous Australians. Now is the moment for us to hope that he can.
It's also worth recalling the contrarian perspective of Brisbane Uniting Church theologian Scott Stephens, who wrote in Eureka Street in August that 'replacing Turnbull with Abbott as Leader of the Opposition is the only way forward for the Liberal Party, and yet it is an act which would itself require a great deal of courage'.
The chaotic circumstances of Abbott's unexpected rise to the top belie any contention that what happened last week was part of an ordered or strategic implementation of a vision. Such a vision was articulated in Abbott's Battlelines book, which was published mid-year.
Stephens dismissed the electorate's low regard for Abbott as 'unenlightened electoral bigotry' that is a throwback to the anti-Catholic prejudice that bedevilled John F. Kennedy in the 1960s.
He suggested Abbott was battling the libertarian and individualist tendencies within his own Party more than he was anything within the ALP's philosophy. He spoke of Abbott's 'determination to restore charity, belief and courage to their rightful place as the greatest of political virtues' as distinguishing him from Turnbull and Rudd.
Stephens views this as a 'willingness to wage war against the people's baser instincts, to expand the public's moral imagination rather than simply pander to avarice'.
It is difficult to see Abbott's characterisation of the ETS as a giant 'tax grab' as other than a pandering to avarice. But the details of how Abbott will implement his vision are yet to be revealed, and now is the time to give him the benefit of the doubt.
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Michael Mullins is editor of Eureka Street.