Turnbull and his beleaguered treasurer, Scott Morrison, insist that there is no need for a royal commission: the regulators already in place, particularly the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, have all the necessary powers to do the job. But whatever the purview and intentions of ASIC, it has manifestly failed: the banks have shown no reform and very little remorse.
As soon as one atrocity is closed down, another opens. If it is not overcharging on credit cards, it is rorting by financial planners. If it is not dodging legitimate insurance claims, it is manipulating interest rates. Their customers are, understandably, fed up. And Turnbull's lawyerish approach - that well chosen words will eventually deliver justice, or at least a win - is no longer adequate.
He may rebuff Shorten's royal commission, but he cannot just will it away: he needs to do something, and something substantial, before the next evidence of systematic malfeasance it is exposed - and there will be plenty of people looking for it.
Paul Keating famously derided Andrew Peacock with the phrase: "Can a soufflé rise twice?" Keating calls Turnbull "a cherry on top of a compost heap." Well, at least he has got to the top. But it is proving a far more difficult peak that he hoped or expected.
Some critics are already calling Turnbull a show pony; this is what other critics called Peacock. It is not a good omen.
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