Returning triumphant from his taxpayer-funded pollie pedal ride, Tony Abbott has engaged in a media blitz to pass on his diagnosis of the problems of modern politics.
First, he wrote an article in The Telegraph outlining how the Coalition was on the road to defeat and what they should do to turn it around. Then we find that he has replaced Scott Morrison for the regular gig with Ray Hadley on 2GB. Also appearing on Sky, Abbott seems determined to be noticed.
And he is not expecting any backlash for speaking out. Talking to Ray Hadley, Tony revealed that he shirtfronted senior minister Matthias Cormann when he criticised Abbott for a similar spray against the government in February.
“Mathias and I had a man-to-man talk you might say about that particular outburst of his,” he told 2GB host Ray Hadley. “We had a very blunt conversation about it. If you don’t like what someone is doing, rather than speak out publicly at least in the first instance you should have a man-to-man discussion.”
Can he not see the hypocrisy of that as he takes to the airwaves to tell the country what his government is doing wrong rather than discussing it in the party room?
So what wisdom did the failed ex-PM have to offer?
Mr Abbott says to retain power and please the public the government must reform the Senate (I thought we just did that); stop subsidising wind power (and presumably subsidise coal instead); dump the Human Rights Commission, “a nanny-state bureaucracy which persecutes journalists but does nothing about Muslim extremists” (he had to get “Muslim” in there somewhere and he has never considered human rights important); protect workers but make it easier for future generations to get work (no mention of how); abolish the Safe Schools program (which we all know is a Marxist brainwashing exercise to make all children transgender); and “don’t apologise for Australia; celebrate it” (as we cut foreign aid, fail to act on climate change, and fail to close the gap on indigenous disadvantage).
No mention of foreign policy. No mention of taxation reform. No mention of housing affordability. No mention of the corruption and nepotism of the political class. (Ok, that last one was a flight of fancy on my part.)
Speaking of Abbott’s failed attempt to join the priesthood, Fr Brian Wright said:
“The study of theology did not capture Tony’s imagination. He did passably well; not as well as his academic background may have indicated. I do not recall that he ever talked about theology while at Manly. His concern was with churchmanship. Tony is inclined to score points, to skate over or hold back any reservations he might have about his case.”
Nothing has changed. Even in the church, for Tony it was all about the politics and not about the substance as shown by his comments on why he left.
A “cooperative” style of management ran counter to the Church’s age-old hierarchical structure. 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.”
Abbott craves power. His only method to achieve it is to latch onto niche causes that he thinks will make him popular and to attack anyone or anything that stands in his way even if it is his own government.
While Abbott insists he is against dumping a sitting Prime Minister, I am sure he will have no such hesitation in rolling a defeated one and he seems to be doing everything he can to make that happen.
