Culture

Liberal MPs Slammed Abbott Over His Recent Petty Remarks And It Was Extraordinarily Satisfying

Maybe they'll all wipe each other out?

by Tom Clift  25 February 2017
Tony Abbott

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When Tony Abbott was ousted as Prime Minister by Malcolm Turnbull, he promised to put aside personal grudges and back his successor for the good of the nation. “There will be no wrecking, no undermining, and no sniping,” he said.

Of course the thing about Tony Abbott is that he’s a politician, and as such his promises don’t mean shit. Since the spill he’s thrown shade at the Turnbull government at every possible opportunity, all while denying – or at least, refusing to confirm – that he wants to be Prime Minister again, despite the fact that he very clearly does.

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This week, however, it would seem as though Abbott finally went too far, with his latest dig at the Turnbull government sparking intense criticism from senior ministers as well as the Prime Minister himself.

On Thursday night, Abbott described a five point plan to help the government “win back the people who are giving up on us.”

“Why not say to the people of Australia: we’ll cut the renewable energy target to help with your power bills, we’ll cut immigration to make housing more affordable, we’ll scrap the Human Rights Commission to stop official bullying, we’ll stop all new spending to end ripping off our grandkids, and we’ll reform the Senate to have government, not gridlock?” Abbott asked.

“Our politics can’t be just a contest of toxic egos or someone’s vanity project,” he added, apparently without a shred of self-awareness.

Abbott also told Sky News’ Andrew Bolt (ew) that the LNP could “drift to defeat if we don’t lift our game.”

On Friday, Defence Minister Christopher Pyne returned fire, slamming the former PM for hypocrisy, and shooting down his proposals one after the other.

“He said that we should freeze immigration yet when he was the prime minister, he had record levels of immigration” said Pyne. “He said we should abolish the Human Rights Commission and yet when he was the prime minister, he shut down the debate on whether we should reform section 18C.”

“He says we should cut taxes, and yet when he was the prime minister he increased taxes, whether it was the deficit levy on high income earners or whether it was the fuel tax. He says we should slash spending and yet when he was the prime minister in 2014 he attempted to slash spending and all he did was create zombie bills that couldn’t pass through the Senate.”

“The fifth subject, of course, was the renewable energy target and the truth is he set the RET at 23.5 per cent and described it at the time as one of the achievements of his government.”

Pyne went even further during an interview on The Project, declaring that “we aren’t going back to [Abbott] under any circumstances.”

Finance Minister Mathias Cormann, a long time Abbott ally, was also extremely critical of the former PM’s remarks. “I was flabbergasted by Tony Abbott’s interview last night,” Cormann told Sky News. “It was deliberately destructive, it was completely unhelpful, it was not designed to be helpful.”

“It was quite self indulgent, and I think it is very sad that Tony Abbott has chosen to go down this path,” he added.

Deputy Liberal leader Julie Bishop, meanwhile, took a shot at Abbott’s “so-called manifesto”, and said that her old boss would be “answerable” for his behaviour.

As for Malcolm Turnbull, he agreed with Cormann, describing Abbott’s “latest outburst” as “sad”.

For the record, Abbott has since told the Nine Network that “my duty as a former party leader is to try to ensure the party and the government stays on the right track,” and added that “obviously I ­support the leader of the ­government.” I don’t know about you, but I’m starting to think that maybe Tony Abbott just doesn’t respect my intelligence. Good to know the feeling is mutual, I suppose.