The man who had just a short stint as opposition leader, weakened and wounded by what many diagnosed as over-confidence during the Utegate affair, has made another risky political decision, this time to take the nation to a double dissolution election over a piece of legislation few people would fully understand.

So will this gamble pay off?

If opinion polls are to be believed, there is no guarantee.

Charles Sturt University political expert Dominic O’Sullivan predicted this week that Mr Turnbull would try to link opposition leader Bill Shorten with alleged union thuggery during the election campaign, making out that Mr Shorten is too weak to take on his  mates in the building industry.

But Mr O’Sullivan also noted that the Coalition is vulnerable when it comes to industrial relations, having been burnt badly by the John Howard-era Work Choices.

After a period in which he was accused of drifting and indecisiveness, Mr Turnbull seems prepared now to risk it all to improve his position in both houses of parliament.

He is also risking losing the attention span of the Australian public as he gives them a long, drawn-out election campaign for which there seems very little enthusiasm or appetite.

Some commentators have said Mr Turnbull wasted his opportunity for an easy election win by not striking early when his popularity was at its peak.

So what we have now is a contest.

More importantly, let’s hope we have a contest of ideas – because that’s what the voters of the nation are really craving.