Remember when Tony Abbott was elected on a promise of 6 months’ worth of replacement wages for maternity leave to encourage “women of calibre” to have more children?
It was about the first thing they dumped after being elected. But not only that, they then accused women who combined workplace and government entitlements to have a few more months at home with their newborn of double-dipping and promptly removed that option, sending women’s maternity leave entitlements backwards.
This is the man who, when asked about the attributes of a Liberal Party candidate in the 2013 campaign, said she had “sex appeal”.
This Prime Ministerial candidate said we should vote for him because he was the guy with the good-looking daughters whose virginity he described as “a gift”.
He opposed the Gardasil vaccination because he thought it would promote promiscuity. What? A bunch of 12-year-olds suddenly think hey, I won’t get cervical cancer, let’s go bonk?
This is the man who dismissed contraception as part of the “me now” mentality, and abortion because it “violated instinctive respect for life”. That didn’t stop him from having unprotected sex with his girlfriend at university and then dumping her when she got pregnant.
And when he did get the top job, he made himself Minister for Women. I have no words.
True, Tony is yesterday’s man, but his attitudes towards women are alive and well in Coalition ranks.
Men in parliament still want to dictate to women about their reproductive health. A few of the women agree with them but you will find they are all religious and religions are founded and controlled by men.
When Queensland voted on a bill to finally decriminalise abortion, the LNP allowed a conscience vote – but when three of their MPs voted in favour of Labor’s bill, they were threatened with the loss of preselection by the party’s organisational wing. The bill passed but Deb Frecklington had promised to review it if the LNP won the election.
And then there’s Barnaby Joyce, the man who described Bridget McKenzie as a “flash bit of kit” when she joined the Senate.
When Joyce’s long-standing quite public affair with an employee resulted in her falling pregnant, he went on national tv to say his paternity was “a grey area” but he would magnanimously raise the child as his own.
Joyce’s explanation for this bizarre, and very tacky, statement was that he had been on an overseas work trip with his wife Natalie for 10 days from June 23, around the time the child was conceived.
Gee, I bet that made Nat feel good to know that Barnaby was having unprotected sex with at least one other woman who was having unprotected sex with at least one other man – and that he wanted to share that with the nation.
It was lurve, says Barnaby.
As did George Christensen when his predilection for Asian girly bars was outed. George spent nearly 300 days over a four-year period visiting “adult entertainment bars” during his 28 trips to the Philippines. It was so bad that ASIO warned the PM that Christensen could be vulnerable to being compromised.
Outrageous slurs cries George, never denying visiting these places that exploit women and, in many cases, much worse.
Jamie Briggs was forced to step down from the Turnbull Ministry after he “behaved inappropriately” towards a public servant on a boozy night out and then publicly outed her when she made a complaint. (Same approach Barnaby used when facing sexual harassment allegations – put the public spotlight on the woman.)
Another Prime Ministerial aspirational, Peter Dutton, quickly texted his support for Briggs, describing a female journalist who reported on the incident as a “mad fucking witch” – somewhat reminiscent of the signs describing Julia Gillard as a witch and Bob Browne’s bitch, which several Liberal politicians, including future PM Abbott, were happy to be photographed with.
Assistant Minister Andrew Broad was also forced to resign after he was outed hooking up with a young woman on a sugar daddy dating site. Humiliatingly, he sent texts comparing himself to James Bond and telling her he knew “how to ride a horse, fly a plane and f— my woman”. Another read “I pull you close, run my strong hands down your back, softly kiss your neck and whisper ‘G’day mate’.”
More recently, we have been told about Christian Porter and Alan Tudge and their shenanigans with female staffers and their subsequent treatment.
These defenders of the bastions of morality had to have a rule written down to tell them they shouldn’t be bonking the hired help.
Perhaps even more troubling was the treatment of their female colleagues during Morrison’s coup.
Julia Banks moved to the crossbench citing bullying and intimidation from “within my own party”.
Lucy Gichuhi spoke of being bullied and intimidated and seeing female colleagues in tears.
Kelly O’Dwyer told the ABC that she had spoken to both male and female MPs in the wake of the leadership spill and “it is clear to me that people were subject to threats and intimidation and bullying.”
Linda Reynolds stood up in the Senate and said “I hope…whatever happens tomorrow that the behaviours that we have seen and the bullying and intimidation that I do not recognise as Liberal in any shape, way or form be brought to account.”
No-one was ever held to account. The women who had the temerity to complain were silenced by being discarded or promoted.
Back in 2015, Malcolm Turnbull, when announcing $100 million in federal funding to help stop violence against women, said that “disrespecting women does not always result in violence against women. But all violence against women begins with disrespecting women.”
If you think the Coalition men respect women as equals, just ask Julie Bishop.
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How could I forget? It’s seared into my brain.
I have heard right-wingers fart that left-wingers are hypocrites because we criticise Credlin! Credlin, before being hired as Sly Poos hack, was Chief of Staff to the bloody idiot who farted that Fiona Scott had sex appeal and was “not just a pretty face”. After the disgusting language from Potty Rotten, his equally stupid wife then farted in the Courier Snail that her dear little Potty was not a monster, and “a good family man”. NO good family man would use language like he did, especially if his sons could hear about it! Women who have been treated well by the Liberal Party, however, include the daughter of a Western Australian prominent Liberal, Georgie Cash, who farted that she knew what it was like to be on a tight budget because she backpacked through the Middle East on Daddy Dearest’s credit card!
And with his passion for working Mums Abbott didn’t extend his generosity to poor families. As soon as he was elected in 2013 he cancelled the so called School Kids Bonus ; he didn’t like kids from poor families.
The Schoolkids Bonus helped parents buy uniforms, shoes, school books and stationery, as well as cover other costs like school excursions, music lessons and sports registration fees.
Each year eligible family received up to $410 for each child in primary school and up to $820 a year for each high school student.
Every time I see that Smith Family ad on television about school kids who can’t go on excursions or whose parents cannot afford new uniforms, I think of One Time Tony : the miserable bastard !
They really are just a poncey pack of pricks. Take the ipa, murdoch and his moronic molls, and their $$$ sponsors out of the equation and they are just a group of self entitled no hopers who are unemployable in the real world. .They obviously have little respect for their familes, and even less for their electorates. The fear among some voters though is that abbott has returned to the ipa/ murdoch den, is it possible that he will be parachuted into the Electorate of Hughes? Or Eden- Monaro?…..
David, oh I hope so ( the parachuting in) it would give the voters of either electorate the opportunity to humiliate him again. But surely the Libs wouldn’t be that stupid. Oops, of course they would, look at Kelly, Christensen etc.
There must be a way to reduce the IPA’s influence. A Labor win?
I also remember him saying he’d spend one week a year in an Indigenous community.
And made himself Minister for Aboriginal Affairs…..
Those very choreographed sanitised photo shoots in remote communities cost us a fortune.
Tony’s answer to Indigenous disadvantage was more truancy officers, more police, less funding for legal aid, and colonial style control of welfare payments.
Tony wrote an article about why he left the priesthood…..
“Looking back, it seems that I was seeking a spiritual and human excellence to which the Church is no longer sure she aspires. My feeble attempts to recall her to her duty — as I saw it — betrayed a fathomless disappointment at the collapse of a cherished ideal.
In addition, a “cooperative” style of management ran counter to the Church’s age-old hierarchical structure.
The more they played up lay ministry and ecumenism and played down the unique role of the priest in the one true Church, the more the struggle seemed pointless and the more I wanted to participate in worldly activities which were much more to my taste.
l felt “had” by a seminary that so stressed ”empathy” with sinners and “dialogue” with the Church’s enemies that the priesthood seemed to have lost its point.”
Tony thinks he has the answer to everything when in fact, all he has ever been able to do is oppose things. When unexpectedly given the reins, his own horse quickly bucked him off.
Kaye, I forgot that. I think he should have made himself Minister for Aboriginal Disadvantage. 😡
Only a matter of time before we witness the arrival of Sir Anthony John Abbott, AC, entering stage right on the international scene. His knighthood will be the real deal bestowed by the Queen herself for services to free and fair trade especially trade with the UK and its allies.
In many ways he’ll have the last laugh – in his own mind at least.
A beaut read, kaye,
The rabbott is a slave to the church. The church reveres womb-men The men of the church are taught to get rid of their dirty water in non-church women but the rabbott, joyce, tudge, porter consider all women as fair game. Is it a fair question to ask what part indoctrinated church women play in the productive education of children? The church believes god deliberately made women flawed for 25% of the time to ensure they cannot be equal. Such belief was shrouded in fear of menstrual blood. A fear still rife in some religions. My research The rabbott accepts there are exceptional women like Mirabella. The rabbott and the church believe men are superior to women by god’s creation. The modern hand clapping boys use KISS and when boys turn 12 god gives the the power over all women including ‘mom’. Scummo’s extra little men’s trick has god declaring all women must defer to men. One day women will wake up and question the church but the boys have a over a thousand years start from when women were members of xstianity?
ps michael,
His efforts on behalf of Aboriginal advancement is marginally better than eddie’s.
Abbott was a contrarian youth, probably a child who took his contrariness into adulthood. Joining the seminary had nothing to do with religion. More to do with the power it imposed on men. No longer exists. Born a century too late.
Kaye, a good friend who was in the seminary at the time Abbott was said that the Australian people deserved to know the circumstances surrounding Abbott’s departure. He never said any more but he did say it more than once.
A picture that surpasses at least 1,000 words, is Tony Abbott kneeling behind his patron at the 70th anniversary celebration of the IPA in 2014. He was at that time, the Prime Minister. Having left the seminary in the late 1980s, Tony Abbott a few years later was writing in Rupert Murdoch’s publication ‘ The Australian’.
From the standpoint of 2021, Abbott has effectively been a life-long employee and sycophant of the ‘ international mercantile church ’ of Rupert Murdoch, across his several occupational guises over 35 years, an interesting yet unsurprising departure from his earlier intended vocation of service within the Catholic Church. Abbott is soon to take his suppositories of wisdom to the crucible of Murdoch-ian power in Australia, the IPA. The IPA established in 1944, was the brainchild of Rupert’s father Keith Murdoch, influential Prime Ministerial whisperer, from Billy Hughes to Joseph Lyons.
As this photo suggests, it is Tony doing the whispering to the real power maker in Australian politics. https://static.ffx.io/images/$width_750%2C$height_1125/t_crop_fill/q_62%2Cf_auto/ed5c8f6e2a58ec88eb9997b2ea6128186dc7b553
It was typical of his vanity when Abbott went to Thursday Island in the Torres Strait and he planned to ‘camp-out’ with appropriate media coverage.
His staff had booked out the Jardine Motel but he didn’t want to be seen hanging out in a motel so he stayed at a local army base.
The Guardian reported :
The Australian taxpayer footed the bill for those rooms that were not occupied !
Terence, Abbott vanity aside, there is also a case to be made that the political class needs to keep the ADF, and Police, on side. What we saw when TA stayed with the troops was a solidarity charade. He was no doubt friendly with the troops but there is a deeper agenda being fulfilled he might not be aware of. As politicians turn the screws they know at the extreme they will need a layer of protection against strong pushback by the human chattels. Aussies have been financially protected this last year but will that level of support continue?
Politician’s actions and common sense? Use of such wisdom does not bode well for their bank accounts. If they must take advice of technocrats who sweet talk them into a dystopian world they don’t understand, so be it. Many wouldn’t even know they are being duded. Ignorance is strength, 4 legs good.
Perhaps in a Tel Aviv surgery there is a bin with cast off foreskins, from which the surgeons could make a better human than the Manly Masturbator, Abbott. He is a world monument to stupidity, superstition, superficiality.
Now Kaye Lee, it is very unfair of you to expect Tamworth ladies brought up on a staple diet of three chord Country ”music” to have progressed their thinking beyond the ”Nazional$ Family Values” of adultery, alcoholism, bigotry, corruption, deceit, egoism, fornication, misogyny and sexual harassment as practised by that paragon of ethical behaviour Barnyard Joke, the representative of the Nazional$ in New England.
I mean, there are still many Tamworth women who allow their marital and common law spouses to vote for them on polling days some 110 years after NSW gave women the vote and disenfranchised Aborigines.
But possibly worse is the large number of New England males who admire a politicians ability to cast aside an old wife’and family in favour of a younger bit of fluff who could not count to prevent her pregnancy and wanted a secure future standard of living that her career prospects wold not provide. Reminds me of the Islamic practice of allowing four wives; has Barnyard converted to Islam?
Sociopaths. Pure LNP.