One of the many familiar lines that then-opposition leader Tony Abbott revelled in chiding then-Prime Minister Kevin Rudd on was the idea that Kevin quite enjoyed his international trips; that the Labor PM was perhaps more inclined to lead the country from the front seat of a Boeing 747. Names like Kevin 747 or Kevin A380 got bandied about at this time, as Abbott’s own personal brand of snide politicking got a fair old fashioned workout.
Now the slightly ironic thing is that by the time his first anniversary as Prime Minister rolls around (on September 7th we’ll have had one full year of Tone. Can you even believe that shit?) Tony Abbott will have taken exactly the same amount of international trips that Kevin Rudd made in his first twelve months as Prime Minister – Eleven trips overseas each.
Now, look. Fair’s fair here. Both Rudd and Abbott had shit to deal with during their rookie years. Rudd had the catastrophic global financial crisis to attend to, and Abbott’s had unrest in just about every disputed zone in the world rearing its head. No one’s disputing the legitimacy of any of their trips.
But the problem is that when he was opposition leader, Abbott was just so bloody relentless with his nipping and nitpicking and sound bite lobbing that we’d be absolutely remiss not to revisit a few verbal bombs lobbed by him at this point.
“It’s all very good for Kevin Rudd to be solving the problems of the world. What about the problems of Australia?” – Tony Abbott, 2009. – Government sources have allegedly told Fairfax Media that Foreign Affairs have served as a welcome distraction for Prime Minister Abbott in the face of increasingly difficult issues surrounding his first Federal Budget.
“Kevin Rudd loves a crisis to give him an excuse to run to the airport and jump on a 747 and go off and do photo ops with [then British prime minister] Gordon Brown and Barack Obama.” – Tony Abbott, 2009.
Here, Prime Minister Tony Abbott pictured with Netherlands Prime Minister Mark Rutte in The Hague…
…British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond in London…
…Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper in Ottawa…
…and US President Barack Obama in Washington D.C.
And again, when Kevin Rudd returned to the top job in 2013:
“I think he wants to campaign for the prime ministership of this country from the front of a 747. I don’t think the Australian public are going to really warm to that but I think that’s the temptation before him now, to not only be Kevin 747 but maybe Kevin A380 and spend most of the next few months out of the country.” – an actual quote from Tony Abbott in 2013.
The problem is that in no way should a Prime Minister be criticised for being visible in the global eye. With Australia’s position as a global leader, combined with our extreme isolation, frequent international travel for a leader is an absolute must.
It’s just that when you look back on things that have been said in the past now, “our” Tony’s decision to live his political tenure in a glass house seems pretty damned confusing given the amount of rocks he likes to throw.
It’s one hell of a political Contiki tour is all I’m sayin’.
Photos: Dan Kitwood, Martijn Beekman, WPA Pool, Cole Burston, Pool via Getty Images.
