Tony Abbott's overthrow might be the thing that gives peace a chance in the Australian Public Service.
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And with the collapse of four departmental pay deals in recent days, and a stalemate looking likely for the foreseeable future, something needed to change.
Public service minister Eric Abetz looks unlikely to remain on the front bench, with a resignation widely expected in the wake of the successful move against his close political ally Abbott.
With Abetz and public service unions trying to stare each other down for months now, the workplace bargaining process for 160,000 federal public servants is a mess.
The old agreements expired more than 15 months ago, frontline agencies are striking, public servants are filthy at their treatment, and despite the bluff and bluster from "leaders" of some departments, the whole thing is hurting performance.
Abetz blames the Community and Public Sector Union, the CPSU blames Abetz.
The minister's past hardline rhetoric and his political warrior spirit made it difficult to allow much more than tweaks to his tough bargaining policies.
The CPSU, fighting for its long-term survival, is suffering a similar lack of wriggle room.
Under "streamlined" enterprise agreements being pushed by agencies under Abetz's bargaining guidelines, the union would be stripped of much of its power in Commonwealth workplaces, greatly reducing its clout in future bargaining rounds.
Diminishing relevance means dwindling membership means a union slowly bleeding to death.
But first and foremost, the CPSU has to prove to its members that it can secure better deals than those currently on offer.
Abetz's Employment portfolio, and its tacked-on public service responsibilities, is too far down the food chain to have attracted much punditry at this early stage but a new face looks the overwhelming likelihood.
Departmental bosses in Canberra won't admit it, but will realise that a fresh minister who can make changes to the bargaining stance without losing face, can act as a much-needed circuit breaker.
There is a nice opportunity here for an up-and-comer with something to prove but unlike Eric, not too much to prove.
It needn't be difficult.
The 1.5 per cent pay increases widely on offer now could be accepted by departmental workforces, according to most of the rank-and-filers who have spoken to The Canberra Times, but not with the accompanying cuts to conditions and entitlements.
The fears for those coveted conditions are real, whether you accept claims of a unions scare campaign or not, if a new minister leaves the agreements more or less as they stand, they will likely have themselves a deal.
It won't appease the workplace warriors on either side.
But it might just give peace a chance.
