Liberal Senator Eric Abetz Sooks About ABC “Bias” During An Appearance On ‘Q&A’

Tasmanian Liberal Senator Eric Abetz has downplayed the role that ousting Malcolm Turnbull had on the result of the Victorian state election, while also accusing the ABC of “bias”, during a big old sook on Monday night’s episode of Q&A.

Saturday’s Victorian election was an absolute disaster for the Liberal party, with Labor picking up a bunch of supposedly safe Liberal seats on their way to a landslide victory. The result certainly doesn’t bode well for the Coalition heading into 2019, with the NSW election scheduled for March and the federal ballot due to take place less than two months after that.

But Abetz, ever the optimist, insisted on Monday that it’s still “anyone’s guess” what happens next year, before dismissing the suggestion that the August leadership coup was a major factor in what happened in Victoria.

“Federal issues may have played a role, I think the state issues were a lot stronger,” Abetz said.

Asked by Q&A host Tony Jones whether he regretted his role in sticking the knife into Turnbull, Abetz insisted that the former Prime Minister was “the architect of his own demise”.

“Don’t ask for a vote of confidence if you don’t know what the result is going to be,” he said.

“So Peter Dutton, Tony Abbott, yourself, had no role in this?” asked Jones.

“We had no idea Malcolm was going to spring that leadership vote,” Abetz insisted.

“Before you had the chance to do it yourself,” quipped Jones.

“Tony, that is the sort of bias that unfortunately gets the ABC in to strife,” Abetz complained, prompting jeers from the audience. “That’s the sort of editorialising that does you and this show no good.”

“You don’t think Dutton was angling to take over the leadership prior to the spill?” asked Jones.

“No he wasn’t,” said Abetz. “He was not expecting that vote, nor was I.”

“Well we’ve got your totally unbiased answer now,” Jones shot back.

Watch the full exchange below.