Tony Abbott has been busy recasting himself as a man of renewed vigor, authority, and purpose since the federal Budget delivered him and his Coalition government a noticeable bounce in opinion polls. Aside from a post-budget blitz of marginal electorates where he schmoozed with tradies and met kids at child care centres, the Prime Minister has been front and centre on national security matters, most recently on Tuesday when he announced that Cabinet was considering a plan to strip Australians suspected of involvement in terrorism of their citizenship. Shades of the Tony Abbott of old – shallow, impulsive, and tin-eared – keep peeking through the well-orchestrated picture of leadership vigour and renewal, however.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The first faux pas – lending his support to an inquiry into claims that BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto have flooded the iron ore market, driving down prices and tax receipts – was understandable given the persuasiveness of the man making the allegations, Andrew Forrest. But Mr Abbott misjudged the concerns of his cabinet colleagues and of the mining industry more generally before going public, and hurriedly backed away from the idea. He then compounded his mistake by claiming that an inquiry was independent Senator Nick Xenophon's idea, and denying he'd ever said he would countenance one.
On Monday, following the successful referendum on same-sex marriage in Ireland, Mr Abbott played a dead bat in response to claims that the Liberals ought to allow a conscience vote on the issue. It was of a piece with his previous opposition to same-sex marriage, but Mr Abbott has missed an opportunity to shape an issue – a free vote – which most political pundits believe is becoming more likely all the time, indeed inevitable. Mr Abbott's far remove from community views was underlined again when he declared on Tuesday that making tampons GST-free was "certainly not something that this government has a plan to do" – a response to Treasurer Joe Hockey's earlier declaration that these were "essential products" and that he would consult with the states and territories on making them GST free.
There was no attempt at deferral or procrastination on the citizenship/terrorist question. Quite the opposite in fact. It now appears the proposal for suspected terrorist sympathisers to be stripped of their citizenship (by the immigration minister) was leaked to a Sydney tabloid newspaper ahead of its being discussed by cabinet's national security committee and the cabinet proper. The subterfuge was discovered before Monday night's scheduled cabinet meeting. The anger over the betrayal of due cabinet process was manifested in an extraordinary leak detailing how the discussion unfolded, and the fact that six senior ministers had voiced their opposition to the proposal.
The re-emergence of Mr Abbott's more autocratic tendencies – despite his explicit promises to be a more consultative leader after seeing off a leadership spill motion in February – will be of concern to his colleagues. That he continues to show signs of lacking good sense and judgement would be more sorrying still, and suggests that Mr Abbott's leadership may not be the done and dusted issue his supporters might think.
