Tony Abbott's New Year resolutions for 2017 remain a matter of conjecture, but conduct befitting a government backbencher seems not to have been among them. Not long back from a sponsored trip to Israel and the West Bank, Tony Abbott has written a magazine article arguing that should the United States relocate its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, Australia ought to follow suit. He also called for foreign aid to the Palestinian Authority to be cut, saying it's being used in part to finance the pensions the PA paid to terrorists and their families. Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has batted away the suggestion of an embassy move, regardless of future US actions, and has defended the integrity of the aid program.
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The right of an MP to express views divergent from the existing Coalition government, nothwithstanding, Mr Abbott's comments appear provocative to say the least.
Many people support Israel's claim that Jerusalem is its "eternal and indivisible" capital, but Australia's official policy (like that of the United Nations) is that the city is a corpus separatum, or separated body, and that its shared religious importance requires it be administered by the UN as the join capital of independent Arab and Jewish states.
Mr Abbott's very public raspberry at long-standing Coalition policy has had the predictable effect of being held up by acting Labor leader Chris Bowen as further evidence of his (Mr Abbott's) desire to erode Malcolm Turnbull's authority and regain the leadership. Most right-thinking votes will interpret it that way, too, though a few will recall Mr Abbott's solemn vow, made after he lost the leadership in September 2015, not to undermine Mr Turnbull.
Whether Mr Abbott has changed his mind about not white-anting Mr Turnbull's leadership – or has reverted to being the political bomb-thrower he always was – is not clear. Those Liberal Party MPs who believe Mr Abbott could reclaim the leadership number are no more than a handful. He himself appears to intuit that it's unlikely, and he's even been quoted saying he doesn't expect to be elevated to the ministry. So why remain in Parliament when he could resign to pursue a lucrative new career in corporate Australia or persuade Mr Turnbull to offer him a plum diplomatic posting?
A desire to protect his prime ministerial legacy and to keep the party's conservative banner flying under the allegedly progressive leadership of Mr Turnbull seems partly to explain Mr Abbott's reluctance to depart. When he announced he would re-contest his Warringah electorate last year, Mr Abbott told electors he believed he still had a contribution to make. It provoked cynicism in some quarters, but Mr Abbott's interests (particularly indigenous affairs) suggested a number of outlets for his energies. To date, however, progress on any front appears scant. Warringah voters would probably prefer he made good on his promises to them than continue to tilt at political windmills.
