Tony Abbott Ignores Demands He Bugger Off, Pops Up In Media To Slam The ABC And Malcolm Turnbull

Fresh from his incredibly awkward and terrifying video with Pauline Hanson, Tony Abbott’s back in the news, prompting Australian’s everywhere to ask why he won’t just bugger off tbh. For some reason Abbott decided that today was a good to remind us all why he’s one of the least popular people in the country by slamming the ABC’s coverage of the Don Dale scandal.

In an interview with Alan Jones (who else?), Abbott declared the ABC’s investigation into the abuse of child prisoners as “pretty one-sided”. Yes, really.

“It was a shocking report but it was only telling one side of the story and when the rest of the story started to come out, it appeared that things were not not nearly as black and white as the ABC presented them,” Abbott said.

Here’s the thing, Tony. The story was pretty clear cut. Children were being abused in prison. Even the United Nations condemned the incident. The government responsible was absolutely annihilated at a recent election. A Royal Commission has now been launched.  Basically everyone other than Tony Abbott and Alan Jones thinks it’s a big deal.

Abbott also had some choice sledges for Malcolm Turnbull. “Normally governments should not respond in panic at TV programs,” he said to Jones, in a not so subtle criticism of Turnbull’s decision to call a Royal Commission just hours after the program aired.

But Abbott’s interview with Alan Jones was actually the second stop on his comeback tour. In an interview with The Sydney Morning Herald Abbott called for a massive overhaul to Australia’s political donations laws in response to the Sam Dastyari scandal. He called for a ban on political donations from corporations, unions and foreign citizens.

Ah, of course, the quiet, humble backbencher with no further leadership aspirations. https://t.co/ZuEoXFtnUO

— Peter Taggart (@petertaggart) September 8, 2016

It’s clear that Abbott isn’t planning on retiring anytime soon. The fact that he keeps popping up and taking potshots at Malcolm Turnbull is a pretty strong indication that he’s still got his heart set on reclaiming the top job. Even though Turnbull’s popularity has taken a big hit in recent weeks, my guess is that most Australians aren’t super keen on an Abbott revival, no matter how hard he tries.