Two of the nation’s biggest business leaders have turned on Tony Abbott, as the embattled Prime Minister braces for another possible leadership showdown.
A cabinet meeting on Monday is expected to include discussion over Mr Abbott’s leadership since a failed spill motion earlier in February, with speculation he may face another strike as soon as Tuesday.
Former News Limited boss and now head of Prime Media John Hartigan said Mr Abbott’s position had become unrecoverable.
"No. I think his opportunity is gone. Even his strongest supporters are now detractors," Mr Hartigan told Fairfax Media, while describing himself as an admirer of Mr Abbott.
"But as I say, he has appeared as if he doesn't want to face up to the realities of his political life. He is letting them slip through his fingers day by day."
Mr Hartigan also said political uncertainty was hurting the economy.
"It's very significant. I have not seen Australia, in so many economic areas – and I'm not speaking about our industry, I'm speaking across the board – at such a crossroads," he said.
Woolworths CEO Grant O’Brien, delivering disappointing half-year results, also said “stability is a really important thing” for consumer confidence.
"And stability across a number of factors, not the least is political stability," he said
[ for those interested this is an excellent 45 minute insight into Australian politics today .. broken promises? .. Abbott's the man! .. the budget saving were targeted at the most vulnerable .. healthy backlash ensued .. a proposed medical copayment for all GP visits was a total surprise to the medical profession, even to government backbenchers as "it had never been discussed in the party room" .. introduced with no community consultation at all it has after 'consultation', 9 months later, been abandoned .. ]
16th March, 2015
"The Liberal Party has dealt with the spill motion and now this matter is behind us." - Tony Abbott
Prime Minister Tony Abbott says his Government has put its divisions behind it, and is now back on track, ready to deliver good government to Australians.
But is this really true? Have the divisions built up over the past year and the wounds inflicted as the result of the threat of a leadership spill last month really been healed, or is he on borrowed time as leader?
This week on Four Corners, reporter Marian Wilkinson reveals leaked communications, top secret decisions and interventions from outside the Liberal Party intended to shore up Tony Abbott's leadership, that suggest the party remains divided.
The program tracks key government policy decisions that saw its popularity sink from highs to major lows. It tells how for much of the past year and a half the Prime Minister has been cut off from his own backbench, making him incapable of understanding the impact budget measures were having on voters.
In the weeks since the party room spill, the Prime Minister has repeatedly insisted his party will not go down the road taken by Labor when it replaced Kevin Rudd with Julia Gillard. However others, even those that support him, offer this veiled warning:
"We want him to succeed and we want the Government to succeed... and I think that we will get there. But if it doesn't, the first person to know that it's not working will be Tony Abbott and I have every confidence that if that happens, and I don't think it will but if that happens, I think Tony would do the right thing by Australia." - Government backbencher
It becomes clear that while Tony Abbott may have come through one crisis, the margin for error in his leadership diminishes as each month passes and the next election gets closer.
As a former Liberal Cabinet Minister said:
"Understand this, as you get closer [to an election], every marginal seat member is thinking I could lose my seat... if things don't change, the party room will..."
Q: "...Will change the leader?"
"Yeah, if things don't change."
HOUSE OF CARDS, reported by Marian Wilkinson and presented by Kerry O'Brien, goes to air on Monday 16th March at 8.30pm. It is replayed on Tuesday 17th March at 10.00am and Wednesday 18th March at midnight. It can also be seen on ABC News 24 on Saturday at 8.00pm, ABC iview and at abc.net.au/4corners.
Malcolm Turnbull was Australia’s worst ever Communications Minister
By Renai LeMay - 14/09/2015
opinionHe might be charismatic, he might be popular, and pretty shortly he might be Prime Minister. But when it comes to technology policy, Malcolm Turnbull has been a disaster. The Member for Wentworth will be remembered as Australia’s worst ever Communications Minister — the man who singlehandedly demolished the NBN and put a polite face on draconian Data Retention and Internet piracy laws.
Kevin Andrews skips Parliament to address conservative lobby group in Washington on defence
"Tony Abbott has [had when leader/still has as backbencher] much bigger problems than a rogue knight"
Heath Aston Political reporter January 27, 2016
VIDEO - Turnbull reacts to Abbott's 'gay hate' group speech
The Prime Minister Malcolm tells Network 10's The Project he respects Tony Abbott's right to address the Alliance Defending Freedom, a US group strongly opposed to abortion and same-sex marriage.
Kevin Andrews will become the second Liberal backbencher in a week to address a right-wing US lobby group when he speaks at the largest conservative think tank in Washington on Tuesday.
Report concludes Haneef was innocent Australian Broadcasting Corporation Broadcast: 23/12/2008 Reporter: Matt Peacock
The federal government today released a report by retired judge John Clarke QC into last year's controversial arrest and subsequent release of Dr Haneef on terrorism charges. The Clark Report concluded that Dr Haneef should never have been charged and is highly critical of the actions of Australian authorities over the affair. .. http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2008/s2454058.htm ] --
Mr Andrews, who was dumped as defence minister by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull in September as part of a purge of Tony Abbott-backers, will miss the first week of Parliament to deliver a speech on "Australia's Global Security and Defense Challenges" to the influential Heritage Foundation.
Kevin Andrews speaks out against his demotion from cabinet in September. Photo: Paul Jeffers
[ .. looks like a turd, talks like a turd...]
His booking in Washington has emerged days after Mr Abbott attracted criticism for agreeing to speak to conservative Christian, anti-gay lobby group, the Alliance Defending Freedom in New York on Thursday.
Mr Andrews' decision to fly to the US rather than attend the first sitting of Parliament in 2016 is likely to be interpreted as another conservative Liberal flying the flag for the hard right.
Mr Abbott's announcement this week that he will not retire from politics has rallied the faction, with warnings from conservatives like Eric Abetz that the group will not bow to a more moderate approach to issues like same-marriage even if Australians vote for its legalisation in the upcoming nationwide plebiscite.
Backbenchers Tony Abbott and Kevin Andrews during Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's ministerial statement on national security in November. Photo: Alex Ellinghausen
Mr Andrews has spoken out twice since his removal on the need for Australia to agree to US requests for a greater military contribution in the Middle East. He has called for Australian combat troops to take the fight to Islamic State.
Fairfax Media understands Mr Andrews has not alerted the minister's office of his plans to speak about his former portfolio area.
Established in the 1970s, the Foundation was a key policymaker for Republican president Ronald Reagan and was a loud supporter of the original Iraq war. In recent years it has campaigned aggressively to defund Obamacare.
The Foundation's current president is former Republican senator Jim DeMint, a leading figure in the Tea Party movement and a pro-lifer who opposes same-sex marriage.
According to the Foundation's invite, Mr Andrews will cover Australia's key defence challenges, including in the Asia-Pacific and the Middle East.
"Australia is in a unique position, straddling the line between Asia and the West. It faces global security and defense challenges from the perspective of an Alliance partner with the United States. It, also, focuses on the challenges that confront both nations, particularly in the Indo-Pacific region – especially the China Seas – and the Middle East," the Foundation said in promoting Mr Andrews' presentation.
The Foundation lists its mission as "to formulate and promote conservative public policies based on the principles of free enterprise, limited government, individual freedom, traditional American values, and a strong national defense."
Mr Andrews' office has been asked whether he sought Ms Payne's approval and whether his trip is being paid for by the Foundation.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has defended the right of Mr Abbott and other MPs to speak at such events, saying he won't be censoring the former prime minister.
"There are people in the Parliament, there are colleagues, there are, you know, fellow members of the Coalition, who have different views, and they are...entitled to express them, and I respect their right to do so, just as they would respect my right to disagree with them," he told Channel Ten's The Project on Tuesday night.
The Alliance Defending Freedom dinner will be held in New York later this week, but the organisation has not publicly announced the date and location.
"I don't know if it is intentionally secretive," ADF media relations director Bob Trent, discussing the event, told AAP on Tuesday. "For us, it was never intended to be a public event."
Mr Abbott arrived in Los Angeles on a Qantas flight on Wednesday morning.
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