The ‘Tony Abbott is blameless brigade’ is becoming tiresome, repetitive and boring. Their attacks on other Liberals many of us who have been members of the party for most of our voting life, have increased in their intensity. And their defense that they’re angry and in pain does not give them the right to label people scum and filth, treacherous traitors, and lacking in principles or morals, for nothing more than exercising the right to support their party.
The truth is, Tony Abbott is far from a saint. Yes, he did many good things whilst in government. And he has done many noble things in his private life. Many people do. But that doesn’t elevate them or him to the level of situational martyrs when they lose their jobs.
Tony Abbott excelled along with his ministers in dealing with the asylum seeker issue and securing our borders. Essential deliverables. His approach to climate change, I strongly believe is the right one, including the removal of the carbon and mining taxes. And the signing of FTA agreements will be good for the country in the longer term.
However, on other issues like the economy and most importantly 'selling the message' has been problematic. If the economy is our greatest challenge, people need to understand that and support it. That doesn't imply that people necessarily like it. However, people will swallow the bitter pill as long as they know why they are doing it.
It was unfortunate that another Prime Minster was removed from office. But we couldn’t continue the way we were. Like many, I was very critical of the backbenchers who in February signaled their lack of support for the Prime Minister. For me it was a personal thing I don’t like to see ‘dirty laundry’ aired in public. But the warning was given, nothing changed. Whilst I have an opinion, I’m not the one on the front line dealing with disgruntled and disillusioned voters from all sides of politics. For backbenchers and ministers hoping to retain their existing support and to pick up new voters come the election it must have been alarming. They'd endured after month of falling polls or no increase in the polls despite an appalling Labor opposition.
Politics is a tough arena and you perform or you are taken out. That happens two ways. The party room replaces you or the electorate replaces you. If you are the Prime Minister and the voters remove you, the chances are very high that everyone else goes with you. The raging debate in the case of Tony Abbott is, who had the right to remove him. Under our system, the party room appoints the leader. Just as they did when they appointed Tony Abbott as the opposition leader in 2009. The most popular Liberal minister at that time was Joe Hockey but we weren’t given a say. So despite what people believe, we don’t elect the leader. We are not a republic and we don’t have a leader who is appointed by the electorate.
Mr Abbott has a well-earned reputation as a ‘hard man’. There are many unsavory events and about faces in his personal cookie jar. To now watch him being turned into someone akin to a moralistic, puritan who has never done anything wrong is rubbish.
Who could dismiss the very active and instrumental role Tony Abbott played in destroying Pauline Hanson. Who could fail to remember all the questions about Abbott’s Honest Politics Trust Fund, which was proven not to be so honest on many levels? Whether you were a supporter of Pauline Hanson or not (and I wasn’t) the treatment she received and her jailing heralded in a very low point in our political history. And it wasn’t the behaviour of a saint either, in crafting the strategy to bring her down. It was very dirty politics.
I now find it rather ironic, that many of those attacking other Liberals for sticking with the party and accusing them of lacking principles and morals are the same ones that turn up to Reclaim rallies to hear Paul Hanson speak, blithely ignoring Tony Abbott’s hand in her jailing.
Likewise, we shouldn’t forget Tony Abbott’s personal attack on Bernie Banton, a dying man just trying to get a better deal for people in the same position as him. Now to his credit Tony Abbott apologized, but so he should have. But a highly valued individual wouldn’t have attacked Mr Banton in the first place, simple as that.
The role that Tony Abbott played in the removal of Malcolm Turnbull in 2009 has been expunged from the minds of many. He wasn’t just a bystander. He, along with Nick Minchin by their very actions played an active role in removing Malcolm Turnbull as opposition leader. Malcolm Turnbull had lost the support of a large percentage of the conservative side of the party over his support for an ETS.
Support for an ETS wasn’t a criminal offense as many people were in favour. Joe Hockey as an example supported an ETS. John Howard was also a supporter, but for him it was more about timing, more evidence and when the electorate was prepared to accept it. Even Tony Abbott supported the ETS, although he now denies this, but the evidence is there for all to see if they bother to take a look. And the doyen of the right wing, Alan Jones himself even supported programs to address climate change based on a reduction in emissions. At one point Jones was extremely critical of anyone who tried to challenge the push on climate. I wrote many letters to Alan Jones complaining of his treatment of skeptics. In an interview with ex PM John Howard November 15, 2003 Alan Jones said “climate change has become a defining global issue hasn’t it.” & Jones in that interview was also promoting wind-turbines to John Howard. Now some people woke up a bit faster than others to the realities of what an ETS meant and Malcolm Turnbull when he was challenged in 2009 wasn’t one of them.
So when Minchin and Abbott went to see Turnbull to get him to back-down on the ETS after Turnbull had survived an initial spill motion, Turnbull refused. Minchin and Abbott as reported at the time told Turnbull they had no option other than to resign and they ‘detonated a series of orchestrated explosions along the way’ as one colorful journalist wrote. One after another of the shadow ministers resigned. Turnbull lost 14 shadow ministers from his front-bench and another spill motion was called. Abbott took the opportunity to throw his hat in the ring (after he and Minchin triggered the revolt) and Abbott won by one vote defeating Turnbull with one voting informal. Abbott became as they said at the time, the accidental leader. I guess this proves that Tony Abbott isn’t above playing politics for political gain.
Would the shadow ministers in 2009 have resigned had they been in government? I doubt it. But in opposition you can be more cavalier. If they had been in government, they probably would have behaved exactly as they did in February and issued a warning. As for those who say politicians were only looking out for their jobs in February. There is no crime in that. It’s utter rubbish to accuse people of treachery for losing faith in the leader. I bet you, most of the knockers in similar circumstances would probably have done the same.
Tony Abbott is a politician. Whilst I would dearly love to see a political arena that was based on fairness across the spectrum, we don’t have that and I fear it will be a long, long time before we do. Tony Abbott plays the political game with the best of them. In 2009 he won and in 2015 he lost the round. As Malcolm Turnbull lost by the slimmest margin of one in 2009 because of his inability to move away from an ETS, Tony Abbott lost by a margin of 9 in 2015 because of his inability to unite the party room and to unite the electorate in selling his message. It is a simple matter if you can’t sell your vision and people don’t like you or are not listening to you and you are unwilling to change then something has to give. Unfortunately, it did.
Since the change a number of things have happened. The basic policy hasn’t changed apart from a few tweaks here and there. We have industrial relations back on the agenda. This is a thorny issue, but one that needs to be addressed. The economy is front and centre. Treasurer Morrison is talking tax cuts, which is essential for the lower to middle income group and certainly spending will be getting a lot of attention. Now for those who chorus, but the Senate will block everything, I raise the point; Scott Morrison was very effective in gaining support for a number of unpopular initiatives linked to border protection and social services. He’s proven he can win the support of the cross-benches so I’m feeling confident that he will be able to achieve what’s required where others have failed.
Josh Frydenberg (an Abbott supporter) pointed out on Bolt on Sunday, that innovation and the quality of our cities are a big focus. And for anyone who struggles to get to work on overcrowded public transport and roads, I bet they are breathing a sigh of relief.
I’m staying loyal to the party that best suits my needs, my wants and my desires. I don’t want to go back to a Labor government and certainly not a Labor government that is owned and manipulated by unions. I’m not going to do anything to divide the conservative vote because that would simply play into the hands of Labor and opportunistic new senate entries. That does not make me a sellout. It does not mean I have low morals or lack principles. It does not make me a sheep following the new leader over the cliff. If anyone was to be branded a sheep, it’s those who have engineered and cling to the myth of Tony Abbott the martyr and who are willing to sell out the party they profess to love all because of one man who failed to lift his game when he was asked to and who in that failure lost the trust of more than half of his team and a very large portion of the electorate.
I voted for the Liberals, Tony Abbott came as part of the package. My local member is a good man who has served my electorate, the party and the country well for many, many years. He changed his support to Malcolm Turnbull in the last ballot. I respect his decision based on what he thinks is best. For me I support most of the LNP’s policies (not all); I support free enterprise and economic prudence among other things. I trust the party room to appoint the leader with the best chance of leading the team to victory. To vote for personalities rather than policies is utter folly. We now have a new leader, yet to be tested. Only time will tell whether it was the right choice or not.
