Malcolm Turnbull, already weakened by his narrow election win, has no option but to stick to the substance (excepting unintended consequences) of his budget repair reforms, particularly in welfare and superannuation. Otherwise, he would not only suffer an ultimately fatal loss of prime ministerial authority, but, even worse, any serious attempt by his government to pursue essential and urgent budget repair would be hostage to the political anarchy of pressure groups, of dissident Liberal parliamentarians using proxy issues to undermine his (questionably gained) leadership, of a skittish Senate and of a Labor opposition bereft of any skerrick of principle.