Sorry, Josh, you had your go. And you blew it. Politics is both a brutal and an unforgiving game.

As Rebecca Weisser writes in this issue, and as Tom Switzer wrote on Flat White this week, Josh Frydenberg’s track record in government disqualifies him from assuming the mantle of the great white hope to lead the floundering Liberal party out of the wilderness that a small cohort are eagerly promoting him to be. Put bluntly, Josh is the personification of the very policies that led to the parlous state the Liberal party is now in and, more importantly, that led to the cynicism with which a large portion of the population now views politics. The profligacy of Covid, the economic design of which not only blew our finances to smithereens but enabled the worst authoritarianism in Australian history to be enacted by the states whilst the taxpayer footed the bill; the disgraceful embrace of net zero, despite the promise not to, on some spurious argument about unnamed ‘international investors’; and the cringeworthy timidity on anything remotely resembling a ‘culture war’ issue were the hallmarks of Mr Frydenberg’s period in high office. Unfairly perhaps, but due to the fact that Josh was such a popular ‘rising star’ within the party, it is simply not possible to divorce his legacy from some of the worst policy decisions of the woeful Turnbull-Morrison years. A return to that ‘broad church’/ ‘sensible centre’ formula, so beloved of the bed-wetters, is the opposite of what the Liberal party needs if it is to rebuild.

Indeed, the greatest service Mr Frydenberg has given this country came during his time out of politics, rather than during his years within the machinery of government. It was following both the horrific 7 October atrocities and the devastating Bondi massacre that Josh rose to the moment and became a much-needed pillar of strength for the deeply traumatised Australian Jewish community. His speeches, pronouncements, TV appearances, Sky News documentary and other activities were a precious antidote to the poison of the Albanese/Wong/Burke anti-Israel agenda, providing at least some hope to Jewish Australians that all was not lost. If Mr Frydenberg is to return to some form of public life, perhaps this is where his talents could best be further utilised – fighting to defeat the pernicious leftist and Islamist antisemitism that has done such damage to this nation.

Meanwhile, the rather gauche and unsubtle media campaign to draft Mr Frydenberg back into the Liberal leadership has proven to be yet another unwanted distraction in the ongoing campaign by the current Liberal leader Angus Taylor to rebuild his party’s fortunes. A conspiracy theorist might be tempted to see the black hand of some Machiavellian harbourside-inspired ringmaster behind the timing of these endless distractions, from the Andrew Hastie nonsense of a few weeks ago to this latest circus.

But Mr Taylor deserves to be praised for his recent performances. His speech at the conservative CPAC event in Brisbane may not have set the crowd ablaze, but it was good in substance and deserves applause. You can read it on Flat White. Highlights included his commitments on immigration and net zero, along with a much welcome support of Sall Grover in her fight against the insanity of the transgender sex-discrimination laws.

Of critical importance was the fact that at CPAC Mr Taylor was prepared to own up to past Liberal party mistakes, especially on Covid spending and net zero, both sadly lacking from Mr Frydenberg’s recent musings.

Unfortunately, however, Mr Taylor’s refusal to share the stage in a conservative ‘three-way’ with Pauline Hanson and Matt Canavan was a massive missed opportunity, and left the appearance of cowardice rather than the confidence and strength that Mr Taylor urgently needs to convey. Clearly, Mr Taylor’s group of trusted media advisers still contains whiffy elements of the ancien régime.

But the fact that the three conservative leaders were prepared to share a conference, if not a stage, bodes well for the restoration of a conservative government, forged from whatever voters’ preference decisions deliver. Pauline Hanson needs to refrain from gratuitous insults of the ‘smarmy management consultant’ variety. Mr Taylor, if he was the target, certainly does not deserve that epithet, although there are many in the Libs who do. Ms Hanson should reserve her undoubted talents in spontaneous vitriol for the Labor party, the Teals and the Greens. Matt Canavan performed well but similarly needs to appreciate that he can successfully sell conservative Coalition policies without necessarily attacking One Nation’s versions of the same.

There is now so much that is egregiously wrong with this Labor government, with its incompetence, with its corruption, with its shocking economic wastefulness, that the three conservative parties should have their hands full attacking the left. Leave each other alone.

And above all, ensure that we mere mortals, the voters, understand that if we vote for the Coalition we must preference One Nation. And if we vote for One Nation we must preference the Coalition.

Or get a return of Labor.