Don't just show us, Tony. Tell us Tony Abbott believes his deeds will eventually speak for themselves. But deeds don't speak in politics. Politicians do. Or as Steve Kates puts it so well: I expect people who rise in the political process to know a thing or two about politics but they often don't know how things look from out here. And the biggest issue from where I sit is the absence of good news stories, how things are being done and Labor is being raked over the coals for the harm the last six years have done. The fact that Julia Gillard feels capable of commenting shows just how little shame Labor feels about the damage they did. Government is not admin. It is not just fixing things up behind the scenes. It is not only about doing, it is also about explaining. It is about maintaining your support. If you are going to govern against the grain of the zeitgeist, which every conservative government must do, there needs to rhetoric to go with the action. The only stories I see really being carried in the media have been about rorting travel allowances and a major blue with Indonesia. We already knew about the NBN, the budget black holes, the deficits and the boats. But I worry that the government may think quiet competence will do the job, and people will notice. Abbott has some very capable and articulate ministers, but to assert his control and communicate discipline he has put them on a very short leash. I suspect this is aggravating to proud and ambitious people and gives too much of the stage to Labor. Abbott's "no mistakes" and "no dramas" approach also suggests fear. There's been a fear to confront the ABC, a fear to confront the Governor-General, a fear to confront - in rhetoric at least - the global warming scaremongers. Let go. Have fun. Enjoy yourselves. Embolden your supporters. You're in power now, guys, and can make a difference to the culture. Well, make it. You won't want to look back at your fleeting time in government and say you had the chance and dared not grab it. Thus conscience does make cowards of us all; And thus the native hue of resolution Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought, And enterprises of great pith and moment With this regard their currents turn awry, And lose the name of action. I overstate the problem, it's true. There is indeed some action. But the crowd, untold, would know little of it.