After this morning’s disastrous Newspoll – which pegged Labor ahead of the Coalition 55 – 45 on a two-party preferred basis – it was pretty clear Malcolm Turnbull would need something to point his finger at. That something, after months and months of passive-aggressive silence, is none other than Tony Abbott.
Turnbull held a press conference about the dismal poll showing, criticising it as a mere snapshot of voter intentions a full two and a half years before they’re actually supposed to go to the polls. But then he decided to take a swipe at Tony, who has been sowing discord from the backbench ever since he was knifed.
But – Turnbull being Turnbull – he didn’t refer to Abbott by name. He just pointed out an ‘outburst’ from last week, clearly referring to Abbott’s demands that the Liberal Party veer further to the right and outline a conservative path forward.
Malcolm Turnbull says Tony Abbott’s ‘outburst’ is to blame for the gov’s poor Newspoll result @7NewsSydney pic.twitter.com/6nB4hpHP5e
— Olivia Leeming (@olivialeeming) February 26, 2017
Turnbull wasn’t exactly being subtle:
We saw an outburst on Thursday and it had its desired impact on the Newspoll. It was exactly as predicted and as calculated. He knew exactly what he was doing and he did it. I’m not going to be distracted by that. It’s a fact of life. That’s what’s happened. I’m focused on the jobs of Australians that we are protecting by delivering the leadership.
Who could he possibly be talking about?
Of course, it’s a little bit rich. Abbott’s extremely obvious sniping and undermining didn’t suddenly cause the base to drop out of the Liberal Party. There’s a lot more going on here – and I’d be shocked if most Australians were even vaguely aware of Abbott’s rant last week. But no matter.
Source: News.com.au.
Photo: Getty Images.
