The Herald has a long record of opposing early elections and backing fixed terms for parliaments but the situation in Canberra is so dire the best option is for Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to go to the voters early.

The rest of Australia is looking on at the antics of the Coalition caucus in disbelief. We know how this movie ends because we have seen it before. The melodrama that burst into the open on Tuesday starring Mr Turnbull and former Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton is a low-budget remake of "Kevin Rudd v. Julia Gillard I and II" and "Tony Abbott v Malcolm Turnbull I and II".

The common thread in these turgid sagas is that a group of highly paid lawmakers devote their time to settling internecine vendettas and scrapping over the baubles of power without a thought for the best interests of the millions of voters who put them in their jobs.

Once again a sitting prime minister will be campaigning not so much against the opposition as against rats in the ranks. Mr Turnbull may have staved off Mr Dutton's challenge to his leadership on Tuesday by the unconvincing margin of 48 to 35 but Mr Dutton is lurking.