Culture

Tony Abbott Appeared On ‘7.30’ And It Was Every Bit As Terrible As It Was Back In The Day

Just like old times.

by Tom Clift  20 October 2016

Want more Junkee in your life? Sign up to our newsletter, and follow us on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook so you always know where to find us.

If you happened to switch on 7.30 last night, you could be forgiven for having a minor panic attack upon seeing Tony Abbott’s face. Don’t worry, he hasn’t become Prime Minister again. Not that he’d even want the job. Nah, he’s perfectly happy being “the best possible member for Warringah” that he can be.

Tony Abbott Has Apparently Been Telling People There’s A “Good Chance” He’ll Get To Be PM Again

So why was 7.30 host Leigh Sales wasting her time with a humble backbencher anyway? As it turns out, Abbott was invited onto the program to discuss speculation that the government might lift the ban on the Adler shotgun, in exchange the support of Senator David Leyonhjelm in getting the Australian Building and Construction Commission through the upper house.

Yesterday afternoon, Abbott helpfully weighed in on the debate, tweeting that it was “disturbing to see reports of horse-trading on gun laws.” Which is kind of weird, since he seemed willing to broker a suspiciously similar deal when he was sitting on the throne. Do we have a throne in this country? Probably.

Point is, Tony was back on the telly, and from the look on his face he was loving every minute of it. The mindless slogans. The dodged questions. The white-anting. Yes, for a moment there it really was just like old times.

That’s not to say that the ex-Prime Minister hasn’t learnt a couple of new words during his time in political exile. For instance, instead of taking credit for stopping the boats, he was taking credit for stopping the guns.

It would also appear as though Abbott has been taking debating tips from Donald Trump, utilising the Republican’s preferred tactic of repeating the word “wrong” over and over while a woman was trying to talk.

As for Sales’ suggestion that it was “a bit rich” for Abbott to criticise Turnbull for a deal he seemed quite happy to make himself, the former top dog insisted that he was “actually chiding Senator Leyonhjelm.” Uh huh.

Naturally, Sales couldn’t let Abbott go without asking about the possibility of another tilt at the leadership. “As you well know, party leaders don’t stay in the job forever,” she said, singeing the air as she did. “When there is next a vacancy in the federal Liberal leadership, would you be interested in running?”

“I’m not expecting a vacancy any time soon,” replied Abbott. “The last thing we need in this country is a revolving door Prime Ministership. That was one of the many, many reasons why I was an enthusiastic supporter of the reelection of the government, and I certainly want Malcolm Turnbull to be the best possible Prime Minister throughout this term.”

“It’s not a question of what I might like,” he continued. “It’s a question of what the party room wants.”

So, that wasn’t exactly a ‘no’, huh? Just making sure.

–

You can watch the full interview with Tony Abbott here.