Now Malcolm Turnbull is leading the Liberal Party, Samantha Maiden said, in terms of the issue of gay marriage, he will become "a champion of change".





"Well, I think that on the issue of gay marriage, he has made it clear that he supports it," she said.





"So the difference is, you are going to have a prime minister who truly believes in this and does want to see change effected.





"There are obviously critics of the plebiscite process. There was clearly in Cabinet a view that the idea of having a referendum, for example, on this - which is something that Scott Morrison was pushing - was ridiculous.





"But you are now going to have in Malcolm Turnbull a champion for change, if you like.





"I think in terms of the broader issues of policy, the right [of the party] and critics of Mr Turnbull will be looking for examples of him not sticking to his pledge, and I think the big issue for Malcolm in terms of sort of controlling his own exuberant personality will be that he is someone who does not suffer fools gladly.





"I find it difficult to believe that he's going to be able to sit in a Cabinet room if someone presents an idea that is incredibly stupid and he doesn't think it's workable, [that] he will sit there with a smile and listen and take it in the way that John Howard did.



