Was Tony Abbot Australia’s worst prime minister?

The opposition promised that action to repeal the carbon tax would be the ''first order of business'' for an incoming Coalition government.

The spectre of Tony Abbott looms behind Peter Dutton's climate strategy, writes political columnist Michelle Grattan.

In his assault this week on the Albanese government's climate policy, Peter Dutton is taking the Liberals right back to Tony Abbott's days.

It's a bold, risky big-target strategy, characterised by a truck load of negativity, as well as laced with a dash of policy adventurism.

Former chief scientist Ian Lowe, in an article in the Guardian, declared: "Given community attitudes, it looks like the silliest political death wish in recent history".

What other Prime Ministers compete for the title of Australia's worst? The Australian Financial Review asked six historians to answer the question "who were the best five and who were the worst five prime ministers since 1901?". Five points were awarded to each historian's choice as the best and worst prime minister, and so on down to one point for the fifth best and fifth-worst prime ministers. The five worst were Harold Holt, Joseph Cook, James Scullin, George Reid and William McMahon.

Harold Holt, (1966–67) supported US policies in Vietnam and sponsored the visit to Australia of Lyndon B Johnson, the first American president-in-office to travel here.

In the 1913 election, Joseph Cook became Australia's sixth prime minister as leader of the Liberal party with just one seat majority. Cook's political opponents often pointed out to him what they considered to be the fluid nature of his political principles. Cook had gone on a journey from trade unionist and Labour Party member to Commonwealth Liberal. Cook himself saw this as a natural progression for a self-made man. 

Cook accepted a ministry from his political opponent Free Trade Premier George Reid and he was denounced as 'the first of the Labour rats.'

James Scullin on 21 October 1929 was Australia's 9th Prime Minister. But 2 years later, Scullin said his term as Prime Minister was like a nightmare. The Wall Street crash took place in the first week of his government. He faced the crisis of economic depression by attempting to manage a failing economy while implementing Labor reforms.

George Reid was Prime Minister from 1904 to 1905, and Leader of the Opposition for six of the first seven years of the Australian parliament. Reid is remembered more for his quirks than his acquittal of the roles of parliamentary representative, party leader, prime minister, and Australia's founding high commissioner in London. His significant role in the creation of the commonwealth was overshadowed by the mischaracterisation of his exposition of the potential costs as well as the benefits of federation, as equivocation – earning him the scathing nickname "Yes-No Reid"

He held office for less than a year