Evidently, former Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott believes he can return to office as Malcolm Turnbull’s popularity, intra and extra-LNP, appears to be on the decline. *sigh*.What follows is not intended as partisan bashing of the former Prime Minister, but a defence of stable government.
Mr. Abbott told a group of his fellow conservatives in the UK (what being in the UK has to do with serving his constituents in Warringah is not quite clear) that he has a reasonable chance of returning to the Lodge. This was reported by the media, and Mr. Abbott’s response is telling: he criticised the journalist for ‘making things up’ (try not to laugh) without, and here’s the kicker, actually denying the statement. He did not explicitly say that the journalist (I believe it was Latika Burke) was incorrect in reporting his words, but merely criticised the media because he’s a Tory and that’s what we do.
It is fair to say that the former Prime Minister never got over being forcibly removed from power. Despite his use of the seemingly definitive phrase ‘dead, buried and cremated’ in reference to his leadership ambitions, Mr. Abbott has been regularly undermining Mr. Turnbull both in the former and current terms of parliament. It is also noteworthy that that phrase, ‘dead, buried and cremated’ means nothing coming from Mr. Abbott since he used it in reference to so-called Work Choices and then brought back the same bill, either with slight modifications or a different name.
Mr. Abbott in the background as Mr. Turnbull serves as the puppet of the hyper-conservative wing of the LNP does not bode well for stable government: an alternative, viable or otherwise, is waiting in the wings to replace Mr. Turnbull if he moves one foot out of line. It is for this reason that I propose the following: if there is a leadership challenge, in either party, the loser, whether the challenger or the Prime Minister/Opposition Leader, must resign from politics. This approach has two main advantages: if the potential challenger knows that their political career is on the line, they may be less likely to challenge. Second, the removal of the loser lessens the opportunity for undermining and sniping, thus making government (theoretically at least) more stable.
So long as Mr. Abbott remains in politics, the LNP cannot provide stable government. It is for this reason that he must resign
CA
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