That made for a 70- point differential. Malcolm Turnbull has significant political capital, with the Fairfax-Ipsos poll putting him miles ahead of Bill Shorten. Credit:Andrew Meares And who, you ask, was the opposition leader? An inexperienced, impulsive and impatient Malcolm Turnbull. That's who. This time around, Turnbull is in better shape because he has the benefit of his own first failed stint as Liberal leader to draw upon and three case studies in what not to do as PM in Rudd, Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott. If he applies the lessons from his own follies and the case studies, there is no reason why politics in Australia will not return to what it used to be, where the expectation is that a new government will secure at least two terms.

And the Coalition under Turnbull is a new government. Opposition Leader Bill Shorten Credit:Alex Ellinghausen This is no mere honeymoon. It is an embrace that has become stronger since the switch from Tony Abbott and one that extends across all the states, across all age groups, with no differentiation between male and female voters, or those from the country or the city. Turnbull's obligation is to expend his huge store of political capital to do good things for the nation and two challenges stand out: national security and tax reform.

On the former, the horror of what occurred in Paris over the weekend will demand a complete review of how Australia is responding to the threat posed by Islamic State and whether the appropriate balance has been struck between security and liberty. It will also test social cohesion. Already there are calls to suspend the decision to accept 12,000 Syrian refugees on the basis that there could be a terrorist could be among them – calls that fail to understand the extent to which the 12,000 are being screened. On the latter, the expectation has been that Turnbull will go the next election committed to the tax package that will include an increase in the GST from 10 to 15 per cent and some broadening of the base. Here, the November Fairfax-Ipsos National Poll poll suggests the Prime Minister will find a receptive audience if the increase is accompanied by other tax cuts and compensation for those on a household income of less than $100,000 a year.

Will that be the case in the face of a relentless scare campaign about a 50 per cent increase in an unpopular tax that will remain long after the compensation has been delivered? You bet. This is one of several reasons why Shorten's leadership is not under threat. Others include the rules making it harder to switch leaders between elections and the fact that Labor MPs are more satisfied with Shorten's performance than the voters. Most of all, though, I suspect that Labor MPs are coming to appreciate that Australia's flirtation with one-term governments is coming to an end and defeating Turnbull is likely to be at least a two-term enterprise. Follow us on Twitter