Tony Abbott had worn thin with even some of the strictest of Liberal voters, who had grown tired of his inability to communicate with the public and truly bizarre decision making.

The decision to bring back knights and dames (let alone knight Prince Philip) was the perfect example.  

For anyone following the politics game closely, it appeared Bill Shorten, even with all his faults, was clearly in a prime position to take the prime minister’s mantle whenever the next election occurred. 

But Malcolm Turnbull’s move to challenge could not have come at a better time. 

More conservatives were looking for a more centrally aligned leader who appealed more to the public. 

As much as the public has grown sick of the constant changing of leaders and the back room games politicians seem to be playing, this was one change that was long overdue. 

While Mr Turnbull is still carrying many of the same policies as the previous leader, one would expect a number of them to change prior to the next election. 

Given the opinion polls are already skyrocketing, expect the election race to start sooner rather than later. 

Ballarat managed to put itself at the front of the issue with Opposition Leader Bill Shorten visiting the city for the popular Q&A filming on Monday. 

The city finally received some federal attention after long ago being ignored by the Coalition.

However, Mr Shorten didn’t do a lot on the show to highlight himself as the clear cut leader of the country for the future. 

For the first half of the program, Mr Shorten didn’t exactly showcase his best traits and struggled to get across his message, although he did appear to gain some ground towards the end of the program. 

But for now it doesn’t really matter what Mr Shorten puts on the agenda.

The attention is squarely on Mr Turnbull. 

He has only months to prove the overthrow of Mr Abbott was worth the bad press it created. 

Labor showcased how badly this can be handled with the Julia Gillard and Kevin Rudd debacle which led to that government’s demise. 

If the new PM can differentiate himself from Mr Abbott, and stick true to the views that have made him so popular, he will not have a problem heading into an election as a hot favourite. 

That means he must take back more of the centre leaning voters who want to see action on climate change and a strong and clear stance on the issue of same-sex marriage.  

What is crucial is that he does not take the same approach that made Mr Abbott so unpopular.

That means changing policies, communicating in a different way and, most importantly, listening to the views of the public.

Locally the change puts Ballarat in a better position.  

Hopefully, the city can put itself on the political agenda in a similar way to last year’s Victorian election.

That means a tighter race for our local MP Catherine King against whoever the Liberals put up to contest the seat. 

The closer the race, the better for the city and, at the end of the day, that is the best result. 

And the appointment of  Mr Turnbull provides that chance.