To put it mildly, Tony Abbott never enjoyed a lot of goodwill from the public. While Kevin Rudd to this day has received much sympathy after being deposed by Julia Gillard, Tony Abbott’s demise was widely celebrated by both the Australian left and Liberal supporters alike, and is a subject of ongoing schadenfreude. Malcolm Turnbull’s popularity has surged, whereas Julia Gillard’s ascension to the top job was met with immediate backlash by the people, a reflection of how unpopular Abbott really was with the general public.
After the downfalls of both Rudd and Gillard, the media devoted much attention to analysing the accomplishments and failures of their time in office. In contrast, Abbott never enjoyed broad public appeal even before becoming prime minister, and was subject to brutal scrutiny by news and social media for every unfortunate slip of the tongue or consumption of raw vegetables. While Australian politics rarely makes foreign headlines, Abbott’s many gaffes – ranging from laughably silly (e.g. knighting Prince Philip) to downright offensive (e.g. calling pre-European Australia an ‘unsettled’ land) – and appearance in a now infamous roast by John Oliver on Last Week Tonight unfortunately made him a figure of local and international ridicule.
Photo credit: Reid Parker.
Despite heavy media attention even in the days before he became the Leader of the Liberal Party back in 2009, the man himself remains somewhat of an enigma to the public. There was always the perception of him as an anachronistic man – many declared that he belonged more to the ‘50s than to the 21st century. His most fundamental beliefs were that Australia should remain a constitutional monarchy, that climate change was “absolute crap” and that marriage is “between a man and a woman.” The fact that he sent his letter of resignation from the prime ministership by way of fax reflects a hankering for bygone times. While he attempted to project an image of someone who did not compromise, the many backflips during his time in office indicated otherwise, including cutting funding to the ABC and the abandonment of the paid parental leave, among other things. Australians were always confounded by what he stood for, and in the end gave up believing he stood for anything.
Although a staunch conservative and a longtime Liberal stalwart, in his younger days Abbott did not immediately gravitate towards the Liberal Party. He was a great admirer of B. A. Santamaria, a powerful influence in the Democratic Labor Party, comprised of Catholics and anti-communists anxious about the perceived growth in influence of communism in the Australian Labor Party. He had many connections within the ALP too, and was even approached to join the party by the likes of Labor giant Bob Carr. In the end, his distrust of unions and strong conservatism led him to enter the Liberal side of politics.
Before toppling then Liberal leader Turnbull in 2009, did Abbott even seriously entertain making a run for the top job? Prior to becoming the Leader of the Liberal Party, Abbott was not an obvious pick for who would be the next leader. Only when Turnbull agreed to a deal with Rudd about an emissions trading scheme did Abbott successfully challenge for the leadership, riding on the waves of anger many of the climate skeptic Liberals felt towards Turnbull.
Known as an ‘attack dog’ during the Howard years, Abbott’s combative nature – honed through various occupations as a boxer, journalist, student politician and federal politician – was a great asset for the Liberal Party in bringing down Rudd and Gillard. Once in power, however, the negative political climate that Abbott had created meant that the public never warmed to him, particularly when he broke a number of promises – something that he had endlessly criticised his predecessors over. Policies that he did deliver were found to be generally unpalatable by both the left and right, leading to a rapid erosion of confidence in his ability to lead the country.
One of the reasons Abbott transitioned from journalism to politics was because he was more interested in shaping events rather than simply reporting on them. Yet for most of his time in office he seemed to be at the mercy of events beyond his control – a reactionary in more ways than one. A combination of uncompromising conservatism and bullyboy tactics, while effective behind the scenes and in opposition, served only to exacerbate his unappealing image to the Australian public when in power, and ultimately led to a drastic loss of support only a few months into his prime ministership. In an earlier article, I predicted that no matter how much Tony Abbott tried to emulate the success of beloved Liberal prime ministers John Howard and Robert Menzies, he will probably end up being more like Malcolm Fraser, who was eventually disowned by his own party. Unlike Fraser, whose support for a multicultural Australia transformed the very makeup of the country, and who remained popular and respected figure with the public after politics, Abbott has little legacy to speak of, except perhaps of having the dubious honour of being the 10th shortest serving prime minister in Australian history.
Farewell, Tony – it’s been an interesting (not quite) two years.
Adrian is the managing editor of Centrethought. Find out more about him here, and follow him on Twitter at @theadrianyeung.