The betting agencies have been offering odds on who will be Prime Minister – ie, leader of the Liberal Party – when the next election is held, presumably in 2016.
According to Centrebet, a week ago, Tony Abbott was $1.20 favourite with Malcolm Turnbull at $5.00, Julie Bishop at $10.00, Scott Morrison at $13.00 and Joe Hockey at $15.00.
In the last 24 hours, there have been some money on Julie Bishop to take over as leader with her odds coming into $7.50, while Abbott is out to $1.30 and Turnbull has drifted to $6.00.
From experience, it does not take a vast amount of money to alter these odds – the bookies are pretty tight when it comes to these markets given the risk of some insider knowledge taking them on. That said, the money flows have been pretty reliable indicators of trends in politics so who knows, we may have our second female Prime Minister in the not too distant future.