Simmering tensions after a hamfisted end-of-year reshuffle should remind Malcolm Turnbull that while he can be increasingly confident of leading into the next election, it could all end rather quickly in 2018 if he pulls the wrong rein.

Due to some applied barnacle removal - and some luck - Turnbull's political hull has been streamlined for the coming year.

There will be no mid-term challenge, barring a sharp deterioration in the polls.

In Turnbull's hierarchy of needs, ensuring party room support has always been his first priority with external benchmarks like governing imaginatively, and restoring his administration's popular appeal, coming after that.