The Turnbull-Abbott hostilities erupted in a very public manner this week over the terms of a ban on the importation of the Adler seven-shot lever-action shotgun. While the fallout from their conflict over the matter is expected to continue, Michelle Grattan tells University of Canberra vice-chancellor Deep Saini these events highlight that when you have a Senate that’s not in the government’s control, compromises are needed.

“Now everyone says ‘well that’s a good thing isn’t it – compromise is what we want in the political system’. But the darker side of compromise is that there can be some questionable deals in the sense that many people would think ‘well to be talking about some concessions in relation to guns isn’t a very good thing’,” Grattan says.

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