100 days in, Tony Abbott’s “adults” still have a lot of growing up to do

It is just 100 days on Monday since the election, but the Abbott government lacks that air of excitement that power often brings.

Rather, it is staggering towards Christmas, mugged by moving from rhetoric to reality, from the disciplined order of opposition to the setbacks and unexpected challenges of office.

We will do, Abbott pledged before the election, reeling off intentions, only to find there are many things, including the core promises of repealing the carbon and mining taxes, that he can’t do, at least for the moment.

He’d run a government of no surprises, he said. Well, he has been surprised, unpleasantly – most notably by the revelations about Australian spying in Indonesia, as well as by Holden’s intended departure.

And there’s been the unsettling reminder that voters were more anxious to throw out Labor than enthusiastic about the Coalition; now they’re unimpressed by the government’s early efforts. This week’s Newspoll had the ALP leading 52-48%. Satisfaction with Abbott’s performance was 40% – it has fallen steadily from 47% in October. Opposition leader Bill Shorten’s satisfaction rating was 44% – it has risen steadily from 32% in October.

On any measure, the Abbott government has had a faltering start.

The spectacular own goal was its attempt to cut back on the promised Gonski school money – the full catastrophe of a broken promise and two backflips.

The dramatic crisis – Indonesia’s reaction to the spying revelations – was not its fault, but the early handling lacked deftness.

The announcement of Holden’s 2017 departure is a more complicated story. Despite the company’s claims, it is nearly impossible to believe General Motors hadn’t made its decision before this week, and it was reasonable for the government to press for public clarification.

But the optics were bad. It has been easy for the opposition to portray the government as standing over the multinational (though that notion is surely absurd) and as parsimonious when so much was at stake.

As well, losing Holden, while economically rational and indeed inevitable in the long run, is not something any government wants on its watch.

During the censure debate Labor brought on yesterday, Bill Shorten put in a stronger performance than did Abbott, regardless of the relative merits of their arguments.

The new government has found itself frustratingly unable to deliver in important areas. It’s huffing and puffing on the carbon tax left the Senate unmoved. That was not unexpected, and will likely be fixed in time.

But now Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull has had to retreat on the Coalition’s NBN commitments, with a spectacular broken promise.

A review of the project has estimated the Coalition’s version will cost $11.5 billion more than the $29.5 billion earlier estimated; the government has been forced to retreat on its pre-election commitment that by 2016 all Australians would have access to download speeds of at least 25 megabits per second.

As a defence, Turnbull yesterday stressed the Coalition had said its undertakings would depend on finding out what it didn’t know. He dubbed this a “health warning” (a twist on “disposable” or “non core” promises – voters should beware of “health warnings” in future.)

Turnbull himself is something of an island within the government – former leader, articulate, publicly popular, a moderate. He might have a lot on his hands now, but he’ll ultimately be under-used. He must contrast the portfolio mire in which he finds himself – which includes having to defend the ABC from some of his feral colleagues – with the position of Treasurer Joe Hockey, who confronts many problems but also has a vast sweep of power.

Three months has told us something about the government’s power centres, and the good and not so good performers.

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