THE Prime Minister may wonder why he has serious problems as the political sanctuary of Christmas approaches.

Behold the events of Tuesday night in the Senate, shortly after supper.

The renegade Liberal Senator Bill Heffernan enters the chamber, walks over to a vacant seat usually occupied by the NSW independent, sometimes referred to as the accidental Senator, Liberal Democrat David Leyonhjelm.

He picks up the phone to connect to Leyonhjelm’s office and proceeds to give him a gob full about his gay marriage bill and then demands that he drop his threat to vote against Government bills unless the Coalition party room allows a conscience vote on the issue.

No dice.

So Heffernan resumes his attack when Leyonhjelm appears in the chamber and brands him a “terrorist”.

The mild mannered libertarian responds, to the shock of other Senators close, by telling Heffernan to “f--- off”.

Three times.

“Yes, that’s true,” Mr Leyonhjelm admirably confessed to The Daily Telegraph when asked about the incident. “I told him to f--- off”.

“He didn’t listen to me the first time, so I told him again”.

Leyonhjelm who is the least of Abbott’s problems in the Senate — as he supports around 80 per cent of the Government’s economic reform — blames the Government’s negotiating tactics on not being able to get legislation through.

The run in with the veteran Coalition head-kicker was a symbolic end to the frustrations within government.

media_camera Prime Minister Tony Abbott is a tad concerned about some of his top reindeer, Hockey, Johnston and Abetz. Cartoon: John Tiedemann

The only ray of light for the Government was the likelihood of an 11th hour win last night with Immigration Minister Scott Morrison securing support from Clive Palmer to get his temporary protection visa laws through the Senate.

Nevertheless, the past two weeks have now created a perception that the entire year has been a debacle.

Never mind that Abbott has achieved many of the key election promises he set for the government. Stopping boats, scrapping the carbon and mining taxes and signing historic free trade agreements with our key trading partners.

None of it has marshalled electoral support for the government, largely because it appears to have failed in one key area — convincing people of the need for the tough budget measures that are undoubtedly necessary.

As Team Abbott heads to Christmas, two significant problems continue to dog the Prime Minister.

The first is obviously the Senate lunatic asylum and the strategy Labor is clearly embarked on — to make this government look as chaotic as the last Labor one, no matter what cost to the economy.

The PM needs to find a new way of dealing with the cross bench. That some of them are complete blockheads is an excuse that voters obviously won’t accept anymore.

And he needs to find a way around this problem before the concrete sets on the broader crisis of confidence in his government.

For a start, say senior Coalition MPs, Workplace Minister Eric Abetz needs to be replaced by Finance Minister Matthias Corman as the lead negotiator in the Senate. Not that this will necessarily appease all of those who appear intent on simply destroying the government like actors in a zombie spoof.

But the Senate is only half the problem. After only 15 months in office, the government appears to have lost the people as well on the most fundamental of issues — the economy.

The PM needs to deal with this problem soon if the national interest is to be served.

The more optimistic Coalition MPs like to quote Alexander Downer that things political are never as bad or indeed as good as people think they are.

“Well, that’s fine. But it feels pretty bad,” one Minister who doesn’t subscribe to the Downer doctrine confided. “In fact it feels like it can’t get much worse.”

This sentiment is certainly not shared by everyone in Cabinet or the Coalition party room, but it is a concern to some of those who matter.

There are senior members of Abbott’s team who are now convinced that Abbott needs a significant reshuffle before Parliament returns in February. Defence Minister David Johnston’s position is becoming more untenable by the day.

He won’t be able to keep ignoring a significant and influential group of backbenchers, supported by several Ministers, who are now also privately admitting that they believe Joe Hockey, unless he can turn things around soon, needs to be replaced as Treasurer for Malcolm Turnbull.

No-one from Cabinet has put this directly to the PM. Yet.

Their argument is that even if they can reset the policies on the budget, the government still has to sell it. Reshuffles on their own achieve nothing if the underlying issues aren’t addressed.

And they believe that Hockey is now tied to a failed budget paradigm, which is not only political cancer electorally, but doomed to its own inertia because of the problems in the Senate. A budget means little if it isn’t passed.

Hockey has attempted this week to reset the narrative on the economy and the worsening fiscal position which Labor appears intent on seeing deteriorate even further.

But some of Hockey’s own colleagues are now concerned that he has become the Treasurer who cried wolf.

“The backbenchers want Turnbull,” says one senior MP. “And they are not shy about it.”

The suggestion is that Hockey could be moved into Transport and Infrastructure, an area which as Treasurer he has enjoyed most success, such as finally getting the second Sydney airport up.

None of them, however, believe for a minute though that Abbott is going to abandon his Treasurer.

They are not convinced that Abbott is prepared to stare into the abyss.

The PM’s office is insistent that the only changes to the line-up will be a solution to the Assistant Treasurer’s position, which has been vacant since Arthur Sinodinos was forced to stand aside over an ICAC investigation, which is expected to clear him.

It is only year one, after all. “Take a chill pill,” they say.

Nevertheless, few would have predicted that the year would end like this for the Abbott Government.