When Jamie Briggs was made to walk the plank late last year following an indiscretion in a Hong Kong bar, Malcolm Turnbull did not rule out his return to the frontbench one day.
"Well, time will tell. He is a young man. He has plenty of time ahead of him," Turnbull said of Briggs, who like Sam Dastyari, was only in his 30s when he messed up.
Turnbull's actual preparedness to give the young man a second chance will never be tested because Briggs lost his South Australian seat at the July 2 election.
But the precedent he set when he uttered those words should have been seized upon by Bill Shorten a lot earlier than he did when it became apparent Dastyari could not remain on the opposition frontbench.
It was not having a Chinese donor pay the $1600 in overdue travel allowances that made the junior Senator and senior powerbroker's position untenable, but the spectre that he was in the pocket of the donor by being sympathetic towards Beijing's position on the South China Sea.
Dastyari pulled the pin on Wednesday after talks with Shorten and after one confidant rang to say he was fried – for now.
The supposed seriousness of Dastyari's indiscretion was amplified by the fact Turnbull was abroad all week – first at the G20 leaders summit in China, and then at the ASEAN and the East Asia Summits in Laos – at which tensions over the South and East China Seas were paramount.
Turnbull artfully distilled the issue on Monday at the G20 in Hangzhou, essentially accusing Dastyari of being a modern day Lord Haw-Haw, the English-language broadcaster from Nazi Germany.
"I'm here in China standing up for Australia. Back home, Bill Shorten is standing up for Sam Dastyari's right to take cash from a company, associated with a foreign government and then express a view on foreign policy that undermines the Australian Government's foreign policy, which had been supported by Mr Shorten himself," he said.
It rapidly became obvious Dastyari needed to be given the boot if only because there would be no clear air for Labor until he was. The government, so downtrodden for so long, was all over this like a fat kid on an ice cream.
Critically-timed combo
The combination of events gifted Turnbull on several fronts and came at a most critical time – the cusp of his first anniversary as Prime Minister. It was only on September 14 last year that Tony Abbott was rolled and plenty, no doubt, are lining up to label it all a waste of effort.
Shorten has had the ascendancy over Turnbull – and Labor over the Coalition – pretty much since Christmas and this was the first week this year where that has clearly not been the case, bar one or two rough days for Labor in the election campaign.
Right from the day last week the story broke, and when Liberal MPs Michael Sukkar and Cory Bernardi led calls for Dastyari's removal, Shorten looked flat-footed and, worse, beholden to a factional player.
In his defence, leaders always cling on too long to somebody who should be shown the door, It's a combination of pride and not wanting to gift the other side a scalp. In recent times, Tony Abbott clung too long to Bronwyn Bishop, Turnbull too long to Stuart Robert and Mal Brough.
Turnbull, lesson learned, was swift with Briggs.
Labor and Shorten have lost paint this week while Turnbull, by contrast, performed well.
The Prime Minister grew another dimension, showing himself to be a capable diplomat, by exploring further how Australia can help defuse the extraordinarily volatile situation of the South China Sea which, if allowed to escalate, will have serious consequences for Australia.
Undoubtedly, Australia is allied to the United States and Japan and there is no doubt where it would line up if push came to shove.
Yet even one of Turnbull's harshest detractors at home told this column he could not help but be impressed by how the Prime Minister managed to express this position without provoking the Chinese.
Hints of third way
Barack Obama who has the muscle to back up his words, threatened China this week with "consequences" should it violate the territorial rights of its treaty allies while Shorten, over compensating for Dastyari, suggested the Australian Navy joined the US in a sail through past China's artificial reefs.
Turnbull, perhaps with an eye to the possibility of Donald Trump succeeding Obama, wants to calm it all down before the Rubicon is crossed.
He told the 10-members of ASEAN, who are caught in the struggle between Beijing and Washington – that they need not choose sides but get on with both. He even hinted there may be a third way, where deals could be cut between China and her neighbours.
"We're not going to give directions to one side or another as to how they resolve a dispute between themselves. Our concern is that unilateral or coercive actions are not undertaken and that disputes, where they exist, are resolved peacefully," he said.
"You have to remember the goal here is not one particular rock or another. That's of great importance no doubt for the parties but Australia's interest is in peaceful negotiation."
His offer to host a special ASEAN summit in Australia in 2018 to discuss economic and regional security was the most illustrative example of how Turnbull believes Australia could use middle-power diplomacy to stop everyone losing their heads.
PM's confidence up
Turnbull displayed similar perspicacity at the G20 last year when he argued a political solution was the only long-term fix to Syria. He got hounded at home by those who wanted to go in all guns blazing.
As Vladimir Putin pointed out to Turnbull this week, it was the numbnuts who thought doing that in Iraq in 2003 was a great idea who created the mess now.
Turnbull did not disagree with the Russian.
Still, performing well abroad is not a vote winner at home. Messing up can cost you domestically but rarely does it translate the other way.
The Prime Minister will be back on deck next week where the whole shebang – superannuation, same-sex marriage and a nuthouse Senate await him.
The difference is he returns with his confidence bolstered and Shorten more fallible than when the PM departed.
It's not huge but should put a bit of ginger in his pop ahead of Wednesday's anniversary.
