Tony Abbott has just given his last speech as Prime Minister of Australia outside Parliament House after being off-grid for over 12 hours.
All things considered, it was a speech with some weirdly touching moments, full of what you might expect: gratitude to his staff and Australia, an overview of his achievements, and a reminder of Labor‘s failings.
But after a Prime Ministership recently defined by Cabinet leaks to Fairfax and the ABC, and an endless bout of polls in which Abbott came off worse, he had a piece of advice for the media – although a stern talking to is probably a better word for it:
“We have more polls and more commentary than ever before, mostly sour, bitter character assassination.”
“Poll-driven panic has produced a revolving door Prime Ministership which can’t be good for our country, and a febrile media culture has developed that rewards treachery.”
“If I had one piece of advice to the media it would be this: refuse to print self-serving claims that the person making them won’t put his or her name to. Refuse to connive or dishonour by acting as the assassin’s knife.”
Watch his entire speech here:
In Full: @TonyAbbottMHR speaks after losing @LiberalAus leadership, promises no wrecking, no undermining, no sniping http://t.co/WPf6JWryCR
— ABC News (@abcnews) September 15, 2015
