Since leaving office, former Prime Minister Tony Abbott has thrown a rager at Kirribilli House, partied shirtless, and talked shit about Scott Morrison, which begs the question: where was this man when he was in office? Where was the ~real~ Tony Abbott?
The ScoMo smack down took place yesterday morning, when reporters from The Daily Telegraph cornered Tones as he was coming out from a surf at Manly Beach.
He called bullshit on Scott Morrison’s claims last week on Ray Hadley‘s show that he’d warned Abbott about the possible spill the Friday before it happened.
“Not true, not true. Scott never warned anyone. He certainly never wanted me. I spoke to him on (the) Friday – not a hint of a warning. So I’m afraid Scott badly misled people. I was doing what I could to save the government, that’s what I was doing.”
During the Morrison / Hadley interview, Morrison also claimed that Abbott was preparing to “throw [Joe Hockey] under a bus” in order to save his own job, by replacing him as treasurer.
This was a very different tune to the one Abbott was singing at Manly when he had nothing but praise for Hockey’s time as treasurer, although, to be fair, he didn’t exactly deny it, and any possible intentions to dump Hockey may have been a reaction to terrible polling:
“Joe will be judged much more kindly in the months and years ahead than he was when he was actually doing the job. The fact that no policy settings have been changed testifies to the soundness of what the government was doing and testifies to the soundness of Joe’s stewardship.”
To be perfectly honest, Abbott shooting from the hip without a “stopped the boats” or “death cult” in sight is nothing short of alarming.
The spill is already working in the Coalition‘s favour, with the first Newspoll since it happened showing they’ve had a massive upswing:
#NEWSPOLL @australian Primary vote: Coalition 44 (+5), Labor 35 (-4), Greens 11 (-1), Others 10 (steady) http://t.co/jRfyFyPgxI #auspol
— The Australian (@australian) September 21, 2015
Yet Abbott had zero time for questions about why there had been a spill in the first place (although if he needed a reminder, Four Corners last night was basically a reel of Tony’s Top Gaffes):
“That’s a question you’ll have to ask Malcolm. The only question I’ve asked myself is how do I catch more waves.”
ABBOTT OUT.
Images: Stefan Postles via Getty Images / Facebook, with credit to Dallas Kilponen.
