As the old saying probably goes, those who forget the immediate past are doomed to repeat it exactly 12 months later.

At this exact time last year the leader of the opposition, Bill Shorten, was criticising Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull for his inability to control his backbench following a provocative speech by Tony Abbott. If this sounds familiar it's because it's happened with impressive regularity every couple of weeks since September 2015.

But there's something that you might have missed in all the sound and fury. And it is this: there's a good chance that 2017 will close with Peter Dutton as our next prime minister.

Tony Abbott knows it, which is why he's desperately attempting to assert some sort of authority over the Liberal Party with his hilarious five point plan, aka the Do As I Say And Not Literally As I Did Back When I Was In Power God Please Look At Me list.