http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/opinion/the-other-side-of-tony-...

FROM the progressive Left that loathes him to the right-wing free market lobby that distrusts him, Tony Abbott's political character as cautious, conservative and pragmatic remains the source of denial and alarm.

Abbott has been the most misunderstood leader of a major political party for many years. Blunder after blunder has been perpetrated by his opponents because they have failed to see what is in front of their eyes, and what Abbott represents.

The two great myths are Abbott as extremist and Abbott as ideologue. The Australian public shuns such traits and Abbott's poll ratings affirm this is not how the public sees him. The effort to paint Abbott as extremist and ideologue, once Labor's central strategy, has failed so far.

Labor, however, cannot give up. Undermined by its own dysfunction, it will keep playing the Abbott card because it has few other options and is convinced he is a destructive force unfit to become prime minister. Labor's last hope remains a bet against Abbott's political character.

This week Peter Costello, who understands Abbott better than most, rapped him over the knuckles for being too soft and cautious on industrial relations reform. Costello's complaint is that Abbott ruled out individual statutory contracts, a policy legislated by the Howard government in 1996 on Coalition and Australian Democrat votes, long before Work Choices. Abbott, in short, has positioned himself to the left of the Australian Democrats circa 1996. Sound extreme to you? No wonder Costello is unhappy.

In his book Battlelines, Abbott attacked Work Choices as "a catastrophic political blunder". Indeed, he was one of the least enthusiastic ministers when the Howard cabinet agreed to the policy. Abbott is making crystal clear his attitude in office to industrial relations - he will operate within Julia Gillard's existing laws. Radical IR reform is simply off Abbott's radar. The employer groups will need to get their heads around this reality.

Costello's pot shot follows that from Abbott backer and former finance minister Nick Minchin in the partyroom in May accusing Abbott of failing the "good reform" test by not supporting a Labor excise increase. In short, Abbott was too soft and cautious for Minchin's taste on fiscal discipline.

Such critiques penetrate both to Abbott's style and substance. Abbott, in case you missed it, does not seek a fifth term for the Howard-Costello government. As far as Abbott is concerned, that government is over. Abbott runs for a first-term Abbott government. It will be different in policy and style, even though John Howard remains his model.

How will it be different? Well, Abbott's first-term game plan is on the table now. It will be dominated by four items that reflect Abbott's conservatism applied to the times: the dismantling of the carbon price scheme (the most substantial and risky dismantling of any policy in Australian history), the scaling back and re-defining of the National Broadband Network, the removal of the mining tax and hefty spending cuts to achieve the promised fiscal consolidation. How much detail the Coalition provides on the fiscal side remains to be seen and it refuses to get its policy costed by any government agency. This agenda is heavily negative, but Abbott's retort is the public doesn't buy Labor's reform edifices and wants them dismantled.

Abbott's instinctive reply to Minchin in their partyroom exchange was memorable. He said faced with a choice between "policy purity and political pragmatism, I'll take pragmatism every time". It is the antithesis of ideology.

As for tactics, Abbott is tracking Howard's 1996 campaign. Just as Howard dismissed any GST, so Abbott dismisses IR reform to counter Labor's inevitable Work Choices scare. Abbott will give Labor nothing - no opening, no break against him. Abbott operates on the assumption of Kevin Rudd's possible return thereby reviving Labor's vote. How dumb would Abbott be to devise bold and risky policies against a weak Gillard only to gift a resurrected Rudd fresh weapons to use against him and reverse the political equation? For the record, Abbott won't be that dumb.

Much of the current debate misses the way Abbott frames the political future. His objective is to win and win big. Abbott wants the Australian people to mandate his judgment against Labor and to authorise his dismantling of the Gillard-Rudd legacy. The next election is the opposite of 2010: it will be a turning point poll between radically different programs.

NorthOfNorth wrote on Sep 25^th, 2011 at 7:41pm:


Or maybe when he is photographed going to church, it's because he remains true to his faith unlike Rudd, who saw it mainly as a photo opportunity.

NorthOfNorth wrote on Sep 26^th, 2011 at 8:46pm:



QUE?

Sorry maqqa, I am finidng it hard to trust many articles  that comes form the Australian . like burnsides Tweet , they  'write it  up more' than it is worth...

Quote:



and because it came from The Australian you ignore the content of the tweet then?

so when I said that Australia only contribute less than 1.5% to carbon emissions it was false because I said it - but now the Unions are saying it on TV then it must be true

so facts has nothing to do with it as much as the person delivering it

Maqqa wrote on Oct 1^st, 2011 at 10:59am:



I was being sarcastic!!!

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/book-tackles-dangerous-bullying...

TONY Abbott is a bully who hates women, and his outdated social views are a threat to national cohesion and plurality, according to a polemical new book.

In Tony Abbott: A Man's Man, academic and writer Susan Mitchell attempts to deconstruct the Opposition Leader's beliefs and character so that Australians "think again" about the man who came within a whisker of forming government after last year's general election.

Although Mr Abbott has surpassed Julia Gillard as preferred prime minister in the published polls since then, Dr Mitchell argues he is a sore loser, has a sense of entitlement and is driven by rage.

"He is extremely dangerous because he is a man of the past," Dr Mitchell told The Weekend Australian yesterday.

"I can't believe we could end up having a prime minister who doesn't believe a woman should have control over her own body."

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The author blamed Mr Abbott "for a decline in civility in our political discourse", as evidenced by his aggressive campaign against Labor's proposed carbon tax, and accused him of "deeply embedded misogyny".

Dr Mitchell cites Mr Abbott's heated dealings with the Prime Minister, Health Minister Nicola Roxon and female journalists, and his high-profile stands against abortion and gay marriage, as evidence of his bullying of women and religious fundamentalism.

"Tony Abbott is a man educated and mentored by older men; a man who has rarely worked outside institutions created and run by men," she writes. "He is a man . . . unable to comprehend what women -- who are 50 per cent of those Australians he wishes to govern -- need and expect from a modern leader . . . Abbott is not a bad man. Or a mad man. But he is, deep down, a very conservative Catholic man, a driven man, who believes that he has a political and religious mission -- a calling to lead this country -- that justifies everything he does or says. And that could be viewed as making him a dangerous man."

She says he "knows no other world but the one populated with his male heroes", such as former prime minister John Howard and anti-communist B.A. Santamaria. "It is hard to see how such a leader would be able to deal effectively with international leaders to take action on global warming -- not to mention the many citizens who will wish to make Australia their home, or the many citizens who will seek to embrace legislative changes to stem-cell research, euthanasia and gay marriage."

Dr Mitchell charts the Liberal leader's development through Jesuit schools, Sydney and Oxford universities, journalism and politics. She says she did not set out to write a biography, but rather it is a "polemic or analysis".

A spokesman for Mr Abbott said: "Susan Mitchell has not sought to interview Tony as part of her research. The book is so inaccurate and over the top that if it appeared on the ALP website people would dismiss it as lacking all credibility."

Dr Mitchell said: "I hope this book will inform voters.

"In this age of Twitter and Facebook, information is power and if people read this book we can have an informed discussion about how he would change the country. If we get Tony Abbott, this nation will change in a way that would distress many of us."