That it has almost caused the party to implode is extraordinary.

The refusal of hardline Liberals, and the Nationals, to accept the decision has plunged the Coalition into disarray and left Malcolm Turnbull's leadership hanging by a thread.

The Liberals' chief negotiator Ian McFarlane had been handed the job of cutting a deal with the Rudd government.

He did that, extracting some big concessions.

The deal was cleared by the Opposition frontbench and the party room, albeit by a slim margin.

That should have been the end of the story. But then the rot set in, culminating in yesterday's failed attempt to relieve Mr Turnbull of the leadership.

To his credit Mr Turnbull stood his ground, stared down the dissenters, the climate change sceptics and the bully boys such as West Australian renegade Wilson Tuckey.

Surely it is now time for Tuckey and his fellow protagonists like Dennis Jensen, Nick Minchin, Andrew Robb and Kevin Andrews to pull their heads in.

That Andrews, a senior member of the defeated Howard government, propped himself up for a tilt at the leadership is a joke.

Of all the former Howard ministers, Andrews carries the most baggage as one of the architects of the hated and divisive WorkChoices legislation, the detainment of asylum seekers including children behind razor wire, and as the minister responsible for the bungling of the Dr Mohamed Haneef case in Queensland in which the Indian doctor was unlawfully detained.

One thing is certain.

The Coalition has just a few months to get its act together. If it doesn't, it is facing electoral oblivion at the next poll.