Abbott’s blunder

So, why did he make them?

One possible explanation is that Tony Abbott does not regard British politics as foreign to either himself or Australia.

It is well known that Tony Abbott was born in London and lived there as a child. He also lived in Britain as an adult for several years, completing an MA at Oxford. Additionally, he was once executive director of Australians for Constitutional Monarchy, an organisation dedicated to preserving Australia’s subservience to the British monarchy.

Looked at in this context, it seems plausible that Abbott - like some other Liberal Party leaders before him, such as “British to the boot-straps” Bob Menzies - doesn’t regard Britain as a foreign nation at all. It may be that he feels that he has every right to comment on British domestic politics, and that Britain and Australia are not really foreign to each other in any case.

The other possible reason is ideology.

Tony Abbott is an ideological warrior. He first gained media attention in student politics as an undergraduate for stridently criticising the dominant left-wing student union leadership at the University of Sydney. After university, he entered public life as a journalist for The Bulletin and The Australian, where he became noted for his strongly worded articles criticising trade unions and left-wing politics. He called himself a “praetorian guard” in John Howard’s very conservative Coalition government, and was a strong advocate of the unpopular WorkChoices industrial relations changes. Last year he published a book explaining his Conservative ideology called Battlelines, a name that has a familiar martial ring to it.

As a warrior for the right, it may be that Abbott is less concerned by the possible future damage he could cause to Australia’s diplomatic relations with Britain than he is about helping the rise of conservative ideology around the world. This would explain why he needed to attend a British Conservative Party conference in preference to visiting Australian troops at war. The war in Afghanistan may have little interest for him, but the war against the left is of unquestionable importance.

We can only speculate as to the reasons why Tony Abbott made these statements and decisions, though the media should be pursuing him strongly on these matters. Whatever his reasons, it is difficult to escape the conclusion that’s Abbott’s rashness, lack of judgment and propensity to fabricate leaves major question marks over his suitability to be Australian Prime Minister. We may have dodged a bullet when the Independents decided against siding with an unpredictable Tony Abbott led Coalition.