Tony Abbott
“”He really is the author of his own misfortune
|
| —Independent Senator Nick Xenophon, after a year of Abbott's premiership.[1] |
Anthony John "Mad Monk"[2] Abbott is the Prime Minister of Australia since September 2013 and Leader of the Coalition.
Behold the Second Coming of George W. Bush. When you're so notorious that Americans knew your name before you became Prime Minister, something is seriously wrong. Aussies, we wish you good luck — you've become an international joke in a matter of months.
Contents |
[edit] Early life
Originally a boxer and a Catholic seminarian, Abbott was born to an Australian mother and an England-born Australian father, hence why he was elected Prime Minister despite being born in London (a la Julia Gillard). Earlier in his life, Abbott "saved a child who was swept out to sea. Another time, he helped save children from a burning house next to a pub where he was drinking. On each occasion, he disappeared before he could be properly thanked."
While employed as a journalist for The Bulletin (and later for The Australian newspaper), he was courted by friends in the Australian Labor Party to run for office under their party banner, but he felt uncomfortable with the role of the evil unions and declined (instead befriending coalition Prime Minister John Howard, who convinced him to run for office as a Liberal). In 1994 he became the Representative of the Division of Warringah, Sydney a position he's held to date, and served as Minister for Health in Howard's cabinet.
This early into his career, Abbott opposed the abortion drug RU-486, and the Parliament voted to strip Health Ministers of the power to regulate this area of policy. He also attracted criticism for suspiciously long delays in funding for cancer diagnostic equipment (PET scanners). Abbott saw reducing the number of abortions performed each year as a national priority, promising to launch an investigation into a product called Pink or Blue, produced by an American firm called Consumer Genetics.[3]
Nevertheless, he was surprisingly on the money when he opposed Howard's WorkChoices industrial program (which exempted companies from anti-unfair dismissal laws and restricted workers' ability to strike) on the basis that the legislation exceeded the government's mandate, was harsh on workers and was politically dangerous to the government. As Minister for Health, he created the Nurse Family Partnership, a long term scheme aimed at improving conditions for indigenous youth by improving mother-child relationships. The scheme was successful in reducing child abuse and improving school retention rates, which was uncharacteristically nice of him. He also introduced the Medicare Safety Net to cap the annual out-of-pocket costs of Medicare cardholders to a maximum amount, basically making it cheaper by introducing a restriction on how much they need to pay for it.
[edit] A moment of utter incomprehension
Back in 2009, when moderate Liberal Leader Malcolm Turnbull issued his support for Kevin Rudd's Emissions Trading Scheme, Nick Minchin, the godfather of the Liberals' conservative wing, organized an inter-party coup against Turnbull, which resulted in a leadership spill.
The man who beat Turnbull was (who else?) Tony Abbott, who won the leadership by a grand total of one vote... except Minchin wanted Joe Hockey as Leader, not Abbott. Among the three leadership candidates of Turnbull, Abbott, and Joe Hockey, Abbott was easily the most unpopular, registering a paltry 20% approval rating among sitting MPs. Minchin, who was obsessed with John Howard's pro-ETS policy while he was Prime Minister, had strong-armed Hockey into disavowing the ETS behind closed doors. Hockey choose not to comment on RTS policy during a party meeting, which made MPs think "You can't have a policy by not having a policy" and see him as unfit to lead. Abbott, sensing an opportunity, came down as the anti-ETS candidate. Minchin, desperate to remove the ETS and install Hockey as Leader, offered a new formula – a secret ballot on the ETS offering three options – in favor, against it, or in favor of a conscience vote on it. Hockey was fine with it, but Abbott refused anything offering a conscience vote option.
This shored up anti-ETS votes in Abbott's favor, and just at the right time. On a Tuesday meeting, the leadership was declared vacant with a vote of 48 to 34, a clear dismissal of Turnbull. Julie Bishop, as deputy, called for nominations for the leadership. Turnbull was on his feet instantly, followed a second later by Abbott, and a while after that by Hockey. Enter the three-way race. In the first round of voting, he received 35 votes, while the moderates split between Turnbull (26 votes) and Hockey (23 votes; eliminated). In the run-off election, Abbott beat Turnbull by 42 votes to 41, and appropriately, one vote (Fran Bailey, who was absent) was not counted. After Abbott won, Minchin admitted to Hockey that he would have sent ten extra votes to Hockey had he known Abbott would've sucked up most of the votes. Hockey, of course, was fuming, pissed that Turnbull went back on a supposed promise not to run if the spill occurred.
So, Turnbull lost his leadership, Hockey lost the ETS, and Minchin lost the party he wanted under his thumb, because Abbott - despite being as unliked as any leader in memory - vehemently opposed climate change after publicly supporting the ETS as a minister. No, we don't understand it either. [4]
[edit] Leader of the Opposition
After a short stint as Shadow Minister, Abbott became Leader of the Opposition on December 2009, where he turned into a gaffe-spouting machine. On the subject of homosexuality, he admitted that "I'd probably feel a bit threatened [when near a homosexual] ... it's a fact of life and I try to treat people as people and not put them in pigeonholes." This in spite of his own sister being a lesbian (and he's not fond of her either, sound familiar?). He has since apologized for this spillover, but it wouldn't be the only PR-harming thing he's said, as he's also an opponent of embryonic stem cell research and euthanasia.
He has an unsavory track record on comments regarding women. He praised a fellow electoral candidate for her "sex appeal" as opposed to her policies or stances, or anything else, really. When he bragged about having better-than-average-looking daughters, questions rose over whether or not he was just a very proud father or rather sexist for indicating that he's most proud of his daughters' looks as opposed to everything else. Considering his further attacks on Gillard's gender, we might be a bit suspect. (He even went so far as to say that women are "physiologically unsuited to leadership.")
Abbott rejects man-made climate change (calling it "absolute crap"), but recognized that it's politically suicidal for him not to cater to voters who know AGW is real. Therefore, he weaseled his way into saying that he denies that humans cause global warming, only to then acknowledge that climate change is real and humans do contribute to global warming, but that there shouldn't be anything done about it. Abbott actively opposes the idea of a carbon tax, claiming it would be the world's largest, despite it being one of the lowest effective rates in OECD countries.[5] The Senate resisted his attempts to abolish it for some time[6], but voted to axe it on July 17, 2014.[7]. This resulted in some heavy responses from media sources around the world[8] Upon the 2013 election, Abbott received praise from prominent climate denialist Christopher Monckton on the Alex Jones show for his plans to abolish the tax[9], and from Jones himself, who praised Abbott for seeking to bring old American "prosperity" back to Australia[10].
He's a fan of Rupert Murdoch, which surprises no one, and wants to stop the flow of refugee boats arriving in Australia's northwest. Nearly every Australian newspaper and magazine endorsed Abbott for the position of Prime Minister, doubtlessly due to Murdoch's hand of influence. They're regretting it now.
In the lead-up to the election, he made international headlines for referring to the "suppository of all wisdom."[11] This has been widely mocked and parodied on the Internet.
[edit] Record as Prime Minister
“”"It seems to me that this government in the last 16 months has done to its political capital what Nero did to ancient Rome."
|
| —Senator Xenophon yet again. |
He competed with Kevin Rudd (who unseated Gillard as Leader of Labor and Prime Minister) over the 2013 federal elections. During his speeches after the victory, he declared that Australia is under new management and that Australia is once more "open for business," whatever that implies.
[edit] Various farces
Perhaps Abbott's most telling decision has been not to appoint a Science Minister to his new administration.[12] In fact, as soon as he was sworn in, he immediately fired three secretaries from his own Cabinet, all of whom were involved in science, research and innovation.[13] Only one Cabinet minister is a woman,[14] and said woman just happens to be the Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party. He claims that he was "disappointed" over the lack of women in the Cabinet. Except that it was his decision to pick the Cabinet!
While David Cameron and Stephen Harper have taken steps to investigate the government of Sri Lanka for human rights abuses, Abbott had the gall to defend Sri Lanka's government and refuse to take part in the investigation (New Zealand followed Abbott's lead), primarily because Sri Lanka helps Australia over its refugee boat policy.[15] (Before this gives you the impression that Harper has some standards, he helped Abbott block efforts to help poverty-stricken nations deal with effects of climate change.[16])
Abbott also cut $13.4 million from Indigenous legal aid in 2013,[17] while the Coalition committed to a $10 million redevelopment of a professional rugby league stadium in his affluent local electorate of Warringah.[18] Priorities, anybody?
It was revealed in February 2014 that the Australian Taxation Office had decided not to appeal a Federal Court decision that granted Rupert Murdoch's media empire an $882m tax rebate at the expense of Australian taxpayers. The deadline to lodge such an appeal was 22 August 2013 when the previous Labor government was still in power. The $882m was one of the biggest single factors in an increase of $17bn in the estimated deficit for fiscal year 2013 and treasurer Joe Hockey warned the Australian public that spending cuts would be imminent.[19] Abbott later denied having any knowledge of such a payment, and Hockey refused to comment on the matter.
If that wasn't enough, Abbott has now dropped out the very phrase "occupied territories" when referring to illegal Israeli settlements constructed in Palestine. [20] He also walked in late to a parliamentary committee didn't apologize, sat down, and fell asleep when Aboriginal Australians were trying to relay their grievances to the government. [21]
[edit] Refugee crisis
Australia has quite a few refugees traveling from Indonesia by boat, which is basically the Australians' version of immigration in America. Abbott authorized Coalition-controlled Australian states to use the Australian Navy to turn asylum-seeker boats back to Indonesia, buy old boats from Indonesian fishermen and pay Indonesians to spy on "people-smuggling" operations. One problem: the Indonesians themselves are complaining that Abbott's infringing on their national sovereignty, something that many warn could lead to armed conflict if it continues.[22] It doesn't even make economic sense: refugees will end up paying more to smugglers and will be forced onto less safe boats, while the Indonesian economy (and only those fishermen) stimulates as opposed to the Australian economy.[23]
Abbott had the misfortune of being the first Coalition Prime Minister to deal with the media frenzy of refugees ending up dead or missing after their boat struck seas off the coast of Java. Abbott refused to address the tragedy, instead preferring to talk about sports on Twitter.[24] Similarly, he has a distinct case of "It's the victims' fault for being victims!" syndrome; he will not apologize for family separations in the event of a refugee boat being turned away, because they obviously shouldn't have been refugees![25] Since Indonesia obviously doesn't like this policy, they will not accept refugee boats turned away by Australia; Abbott is in the process of trying to bully Jakarta into complying.
Abbott has continued the Rudd-Gillard policy of ordering prison guards to humiliate and bully refugees detained in island prison camps, in an attempt to deter refugees from seeking asylum in Australia.[26]
[edit] And the slightly better?
When he visited New South Wales, which is under control of the Liberal Party, he almost randomly announced that Liberal Party members should no longer work as lobbyists, as an honest-to-god attempt at preventing conflicts of interest.[27] We'll see what happens in this regard.
In 2013, Abbott unilaterally declared an end to Australian involvement in the Afghanistan War. Australian troops will hence be withdrawn from the frontlines and returned to their families.[28] In another good decision, his government approved $10 million to fund relief efforts to the Philippines after the Haiyan typhoon killed 10,000 people.[29] Nevertheless, he immediately followed it up with a successful challenge to same-sex marriage laws in the Australian Capital Territory.[30]
[edit] Here comes the budget butchery
As expected from an ideologue, Abbott's first budget intends to cut as many as 16,000 public sector jobs, increase medical fees, cut benefits for the under-30s, increase university fees, charge for ER meetings for minor injuries, impose three-year waits for Medicare-funded eye tests, freeze millions out of Private Health Insurance, eradicate all funding for Gonski schools, cut foreign aid by $7.9 billion, cut family and welfare pay by 2.6 billion over the next four years, and scrap all current family assistance payments for two years.[31] The pension age will be progressively lifted over time to 70 — an unprecedented measure of any modern industrial country.[32]
Furthermore, Abbott plans to cut $111 million dollars from the CSIRO, which invented WiFi, Aeroguard and extended-wear contact lenses.[33] ANSTO, the premier Australian nuclear science program, and the Institute of Marine Science will face multi-million dollar cuts. Wind farms would be removed across the board because windmills are "offensive to the eyes."[34] Australia’s Animal Welfare Strategy will be abolished on July 1, 2015, dental healthcare will get axed or deferred for several years (to the point where funding will be pulled for dental and oral health clinics), and the budget would end funding for human rights education and cut one of the human rights commissioners. Even the National Anti-Tobacco Campaign lost nearly $3 million from this as well.[35]
It's so blatantly full of shit[36][37][38][39] that the budget is all but guaranteed to be watered down.[40][41]
Otherwise, he did manage to establish "Repeal Days," which bypasses the bureaucracy in order to remove (to date) 50,000 pages of legislation. It’s all to "reduce regulatory compliance costs on businesses," but it's pretty half-assed.[42]
[edit] Anti-Opposition
In an article published by the man himself, Abbott flat-out said that he left his church because he felt they were too compassionate to sinners. Perhaps it is no surprise that he wants to revoke the citizenship of Australians living overseas.[43] He also supports a bill that would legalize torture as a way to combat terrorism.[44] Under his new anti-terrorism laws, anyone who “discloses information” about an intelligence operation can be jailed for up to 10 years.
In his bid to appear "tough" on national security, he's sanctioned Americanesque police raids that conduct mass arrests, regardless of whether any evidence exists to support a prosecution, in order to conduct escalating terrorist scare campaigns. "Police do not have the luxury to wait and watch,” Abbott declared, even admitting "Some of these raids may not result in prosecution." Abbott also announced that the government would strip Australian citizenship from dual nationals accused of fighting in the Middle East and revoke “privileges” of citizenship for any Australians “involved in terrorism,” including the right to leave or return to Australia, and access to welfare.
[edit] Civil disobedience
During the weekend of March 15-16 2014, mass protests against the Abbott government went underway in most of Australia's major cities. Abbott denied having any knowledge of the protests, claiming that the only activity he knew of occurring in Sydney were the St Patrick's Day celebrations.[45]
A second running of protests occurred in May 2014 in cities across Australia, drawing similar crowds to the initial ones held in March. With his approval rate plummeting and a assured Labor victory if an election were held today,[46] one must be wondering what the Coalition thinks about leadership challenges.
On Sunday July 6, more protests were held in major cities and rural towns across Australia against the 2014 Budget cuts.[47] Even more protests were held on the weekend of August 30-31 against the Abbott government's policies.
On the day of the 2014 National Rugby League grand final, Tony Abbott was booed by much of the 80,000 crowd when appearing at the game's conclusion as the winning team was presented with the trophy.[48]
[edit] Tony Toxic
While his unpopularity among women is expected, Abbott's once-strong following among male supporters, who numbered in a 20 point lead, has completely evaporated in a matter of months in just a year into his government.[49] His support among the entire country, from the states to the territories, has reached an all-time low as well.[50]
If we stretch the definition of public to include members of his own party, then Abbott is quickly losing support even from his own goddamn cabinet. This is most especially noticeable with his firing of a competent and well-liked (among the party) cabinet minister in Queensland Senator Brett Mason, who tried to unseat Abbott's favorite stooge in Attorney-General George Brandis for the number one spot on the Senate ticket in Queensland.[51]
Even Rupert Murdoch has lost his faith in Abbott.[52] So what's keeping him in power? An unlikable, and in many instances, largely identical opposition in the Australian Labor Party, whose leader in Bill Shorten (notorious for stoking the Rudd-Gillard rivalry for his own purposes) is himself deteriorating in approval among the public as well.[53]
[edit] Falling on the Sword
To commemorate the annual federal celebration of Australia Day, Prime Minister Tony Abbott conducted a knighting ceremony towards a man named Prince Phillip, complete with the sword, the bow, and the application of "Sir" towards the 90-year old man. This was done ten months after Abbott chose to restore the nobility ranks of Sir and Dame, in line with his monarchist tinge, but the titles were meant to recognize native-born Australians and their contributions to their nation. So, who is Prince Phillip, you ask? Who is the man picked by the Prime Minister to bear Knighthood, the highest honor in the Commonwealth of Australia, on the national holiday?
Yeah, that would be the Duke of Edinburgh. You know, Queen Elizabeth's husband, who has a history of Joe Biden-esque gaffes throughout his existence.[54] This was done without the knowledge or consultation of his cabinet, who were caught completely flat-footed at the unilateralism.
The bizarre decision to knight a Britannian, and proclaiming said Britannian as a "great servant of Australia," was rightfully met with uproarious condemnation from the entire nation.[55] Coalition members of parliament mocked the decision, with one (Ewen Jones) quipping "Who's next? Prince Frederick of Denmark?"[56] One Coalition MP was even quoted saying "This is the first time I’ve stopped defending Tony. I’ve had it with him. This is total craziness."[57] According to political editor and insider Laurie Oakes, one Coalition MP said Abbott was "holding a big finger up to Australians and saying 'I don’t care what you think.'"[58] Even former Abbott supporters and commentators feel this is such a blunder that it could contribute to his ousting.[59]
Over in the Australian state of Queensland, its Liberal-National Premier, Campbell Newman, is probably the most unpopular character of all the Premiers in the 21st century. His denial of climate change, rejection of renewable energy, and total subservience to corporate interests regarding the environment, education, health, the budget, immigration, taxes, and foreign policy rhetoric, are as far-right as anything seen in Queensland to date. Newman and Abbott have much in common in their style and in the substance of their policies that they are often seen as clones. Therefore, Newman's utter trouncing in the January-February 2015 elections (the man even vowed to quit politics after such a shellacking), despite full-throttled support from Murdoch's media, is seen by many as a repudiation of Tony Abbott himself.[60]
[edit] Mental breakdown
So, what was his response? In his National Press Club address, Abbott started with him raging against the already-repealed-carbon-tax, and devolving into a rant about how "People are sick of Australian citizens, including people born and bred in this country, making excuses for Islamist fanatics in the Middle East and their imitators here in Australia," while defending his undemocratic anti-terrorism bills. In an episode further showing his disdain for opposition, Abbott dismissed Newman's defeats in Queensland and Victoria as "a fit of absentmindedness" on the part of the voter.
The best part is as follows: “We will end the waste, stop the boats, scrap the unnecessary new taxes and build the roads of the 21st Century. And the results? Waste down. Boats stopped. Carbon tax gone. And roads well and truly underway." He mercifully, and characteristically, ends this tirade by leaving the podium the wrong way.[61] Shorten even set out "word bingo" sheets ahead of the address to see if Abbott would repeat the same rhetoric and not offer Australians any reason to keep him as PM.[62]
[edit] Quotes before he became Prime Minister
“”No-one, however smart, however well-educated, however experienced, is the suppository of all wisdom, and I believe that we will be a much better government because we have a very strong team.
|
“”We just can’t stop people from being homeless if that’s their choice.
|
“”What the housewives of Australia need to understand - as they do the ironing - is that if they get it done commercially, it's going to go up in price.
|
“”I think it would be folly to expect that women will ever dominate or even approach equal representation in a large number of areas simply because their aptitudes, abilities and interests are different for physiological reasons.
|
“”Jesus didn't say yes to everyone, Jesus knew there was a place for everything and it's not necessarily everyone's (asylum seekers and refugees) place to come to Australia.
|
“”Same-sex marriage? I'm not someone who wants to see radical change based on the fashion of the moment.
|
“”If we're honest, most of us would accept that a bad boss is a little bit like a bad father or a bad husband: not withstanding his or her faults you'll find that he tends to do more good than harm. He might be a bad boss, but at least he's employing someone while he is in fact a boss.
|
“”Abortion is the easy way out. It's hardly surprising that people should choose the most convenient exit from awkward situations.
|
“”There may not be a great job for indigenous people, but whatever it is they just have to do it - and if it's picking up rubbish around the community, it just has to be done.[63]
|
[edit] See also
- Dan Quayle, whose similarly ridiculous comments are equally hilarious and troubling.
[edit] External links
- Tony took a list of all his campaign promises, put 'em up on a billboard, and posed with it for a picture. Can you guess how many promises he broke?
- Tony Abbott: Voice of the Stupid.
- Notable quotes by Lord Tony - they're like Bushisms, only more Australian.
[edit] Footnotes
- ↑ [1]
- ↑ Enjoy your record-breaking heatwaves, ok?
- ↑ This test is one of several pre-natal blood tests designed to detect the sex of a fetus as early as six weeks into pregnancy. Some pro-life campaigners have raised concerns that it would be used for sex-selective abortion.
- ↑ http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/the-last-time-malcolm-turnbull-and-tony-abbott-squared-off-20150206-1381qf.html
- ↑ Another bullshit rationalization is his oft-repeated claim that it is too difficult to measure carbon dioxide emissions because it is "weightless."
- ↑ Senate votes to block carbon tax repeal legislation, Australian Broadcasting Corporation
- ↑ Australia kills off carbon tax
- ↑ http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/worlds-media-respond-to-carbon-tax-repeal-20140717-zu4kz.html
- ↑ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6iNiCasRXs
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WB7VybCfjVM
- ↑ Oh Christ.
- ↑ For context, Australia is the country that developed the solar cell, the bionic ear and now the bionic eye.
- ↑ Namely Don Russell of Department of Innovation, Industry Science and Research, Blair Comley of the Resources, Energy and Tourism Department and Andrew Metcalfe of the Agriculture Department.
- ↑ That would be Julie Bishop, Minister for Foreign Affairs, essentially the Australian Secretary of State.
- ↑ Tony Abbott's stance on Sri Lanka's human rights craven and irresponsible, Sydney Morning Herald
- ↑ Because illiteracy.
- ↑ Indigenous legal aid to be cut by $13.4 million, Special Broadcasting Service
- ↑ "Coalition's Committment to Upgrade Brookval Oval"
- ↑ Rupert Murdoch's empire receives $882m tax rebate from Australia, The Guardian
- ↑ http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jun/05/australia-drops-occupied-israeli-settlements
- ↑ https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/tony-abbott-and-human-decency,5093
- ↑ Indonesian MPs want a vote to stop the policy.
- ↑ Abbott doesn't seem to care, though.
- ↑ Run away!
- ↑ Asylum seekers: Tony Abbott regrets mother-baby separation but no apology, The Guardian
- ↑ Amnesty probe finds Australia breaches asylum laws, Reuters
- ↑ It's now a criminal offense in New South Wales for a lobbyist to be given a payment that's contingent on the outcome of the lobbying of a government official.
- ↑ Abbott Visits Afghanistan to Mark End of Australian Mission, Bloomberg
- ↑ Australia pledges 10 million in aid to Philippines, Sydney Morning Herald
- ↑ Australia high court overturns ACT gay marriage law, BBC
- ↑ It's for the debt, dammit!
- ↑ See the Wikipedia article on 2014 Australian federal budget.
- ↑ It's going down under, The Economist
- ↑ Joe Hockey says wind turbines 'utterly offensive', flags budget cuts to clean energy scheme, ABC
- ↑ Because if people get cancer from cigars, it's clearly their own fault!
- ↑ Economists sceptical of Abbott's 'budget emergency', Sydney Morning Herald
- ↑ Abbott budget to make Australia more unequal: economists, Sydney Morning Herald
- ↑ Standard & Poor's undermines Tony Abbott's credit ratings threat, ABC
- ↑ Has Tony Abbott miscalculated with his new budget?, BBC
- ↑ Tony Abbott faces budget revolt, Sydney Morning Herald
- ↑ Liberal and Labor premiers vow to fight $80bn cuts to health and education, The Guardian
- ↑ Tony Abbott's repeal day will save businesses just $13m, The Guardian
- ↑ Can't let 'em have all their rights, of course!
- ↑ Because he clearly wants to be more like Bush.
- ↑ Thousands drawn to Australia-wide protests against government policies, ABC
- ↑ Tony Abbott's popularity plunges, latest polls show, The Guardian
- ↑ http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-07-06/storify-bust-the-budget-protests/5575378
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHCUyrZG0Wg
- ↑ http://www.9news.com.au/national/2014/12/29/03/01/men-abandon-abbott-government-in-new-newspoll
- ↑ http://www.news.com.au/national/newspoll-results-support-for-tony-abbotts-government-plunged-across-all-states-in-2014/story-fncynjr2-1227167569235
- ↑ http://www.perthnow.com.au/news/opinion/opinion-loyalty-lost-on-prime-minister-tony-abbott/story-fnhocuug-1227167395115?nk=62d9856177f7f99e8842ceb6c9b50e55
- ↑ http://www.businessinsider.com.au/rupert-murdoch-has-set-up-a-stand-off-with-tony-abbott-over-his-top-adviser-2015-1
- ↑ http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/newspoll/newspoll-coalition-dives-but-alps-joy-limited/story-fnc6vkbc-1227167497445
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Utuk2p4WoXk
- ↑ And yes, Rupert Murdoch was again unamused with Abbott as well
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77emUMI_Bu8
- ↑ http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/in-australia-decision-to-knight-a-prince-becomes-a-royal-hassle-for-pm/article22671681/
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLJatKrkSEQ
- ↑ http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/opinion/andrew-bolt-says-prince-philip-knighthood-could-cost-tony-abbott-the-leadership/story-fni0ffxg-1227200337392
- ↑ http://reneweconomy.com.au/2015/is-this-the-last-hurrah-for-the-far-right-in-australia-85697
- ↑ This is not a satire. This actually happened.
- ↑ Again, we are not waxing satirical here.
- ↑ Wikiquote on Tony Abbott
| Australian Politicians | ||
|---|---|---|
| Ann Bressington - Clive Palmer - Fred Nile - Jacqui Lambie - Julia Gillard - Pauline Hanson - Scott Ludlam - | ||