Abbott/Liberal Govt Watch

[dedja]

yes but it never happened ...

[Dogwatcher]

Did he punch the wall behind you?

Nope, knocked off a few bevvies though. And made a stirring speech recognising the efforts of our coach Steve Johnson this season.

That's right, our coach is Steve Johnson and our team manager Tony Abbott.

[dedja]

boom boom ...

[Dogwatcher]

Nope, no gunshots heard in Davoren Park last night.

[Sky Pilot]

Nope, no gunshots heard in Davoren Park last night.

Why not?

[GWW]

I thought Laurie Oakes' article on the weekend was quite interesting.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/opinion/his ... 6474468326

TONY Abbott is hardly in a position to complain that his behaviour at university is being scrutinised now as people make judgments about his fitness to be prime minister.

He virtually invited that scrutiny himself, in a speech a couple of months ago.

"I am not asking the Australian people to take me on trust, but on the record of a lifetime," the Opposition Leader said.

"As student president, trainee priest, Rhodes Scholar, surf lifesaver and volunteer firefighter, as well as a member of Parliament and as a minister in a government."

Note that Abbott specifically mentioned student politics and the position of SRC president at Sydney University.

Allegations that he used intimidatory tactics to pursue that office have come back to haunt him, and his clumsy response has made it worse.

Yesterday, after virtually hiding from the media since the matter erupted a week ago, he came to his senses and met the issue head-on in a tough television interview on Nine's Today show, and later at a news conference.

It was what he should have done right at the start.

He has made things harder for himself than they needed to be, however.

He now flatly denies the central allegation - that, after rival student politician Barbara Ramjan beat him in an election for the SRC presidency in 1977, he punched the wall on either side of her head.

"It never happened," Abbott said repeatedly yesterday.

But in his initial response to journalist David Marr, who reported the Ramjan claim in a Quarterly Essay profile on the Opposition Leader, Abbott said he had no recollection of the incident, adding: "It would have been profoundly out of character had it occurred."

Why did Abbott's memory improve in the space of a week? A cynic might suggest that minders, recognising that this was very dangerous ground for him, insisted on it.

Abbott's aggressive style worries many voters.

And it is claimed he has a particular problem with women.

The alleged intimidation of Ramjan combined both areas of vulnerability. Abbott could not afford to leave any doubt.

He had to try to kill the issue off.

Deciding the truth or otherwise of the allegation comes down in the end to who you believe.

It is Ramjan's word against Abbott's.

Abbott argues that, if the incident really occurred, Ramjan would not have waited this long to talk about it. But Sydney barrister David Patch, also prominent in student politics back then, says a "very shaken, scared and angry" Ramjan told him about it at the time.

Abbott and his supporters simply say that what Patch says should be ignored because he was once a Labor Party candidate.

Another alleged witness is ridiculed and pronounced irrelevant because he does not want his name made public.

Well-known cartoonist Lindsay Foyle has disputed the claim that violence would not have been in the young Abbott's character, telling a story about the future Liberal leader wanting to knock his block off in an argument over contraception.

But Abbott says that didn't happen either.

A lot of people are making stuff up if you believe the Abbott camp.

Abbott himself claims an ALP dirt unit is behind the whole thing. That angered the publisher and the editor of the Quarterly Essay, who said in a statement it was "completely implausible" that an author and journalist of Marr's standing would be connected with a "dirt unit".

Journalist Greg Sheridan, Abbott's best friend and staunch political ally in their university days, has another explanation for the emergence of the allegation.

"This is the most disgraceful sectarian anti-Catholic campaign I've ever seen," he said yesterday. "It comes down to anti-Catholic sectarianism on behalf of the ABC and David Marr."

Wow! Quite a conspiracy if that's right. At this point it all starts to feel just a bit weird, don't you think?

Abbott made one admission yesterday, though, that his critics would regard as having relevance to today's politics. As a female SRC president, Ramjan asked to be called "chairperson" rather than "chairman" - Abbott confirmed that he referred to her instead as "chairthing".

The Opposition Leader concedes he is not proud of this, calling it "silly, childish, embarrassing". But many will see it as more than that.

Patch, for one, has argued that it displays a gender-based lack of respect "similar to the disrespectful way that Abbott treats the Prime Minister and her office today".

[Sky Pilot]

Surely the next election will be Rudd versus Turnbull. Both parties would have to be thinking along these lines?

[dedja]

Love the Liberal's Tony Abbott is a good bloke campaign in the last day or so ... is there a hint of panic that they aren't 100% guaranteed to win an un-losable election?

[GWW]

Love the Liberal's Tony Abbott is a good bloke campaign in the last day or so

Yes, Julie Bishop and Christopher Pyne reading from the same script

[dedja]

Got to love the poodle ...

[Gozu]

Surely the next election will be Rudd versus Turnbull. Both parties would have to be thinking along these lines?

That was always my prediction.

[Sky Pilot]

Surely the next election will be Rudd versus Turnbull. Both parties would have to be thinking along these lines?

That was always my prediction.

Mine too G. It would add some colour and credibility to the election and would be one way to dilute the over representation of the loopy green party

[Jimmy_041]

Surely the next election will be Rudd versus Turnbull. Both parties would have to be thinking along these lines?

That was always my prediction.

Mine too G. It would add some colour and credibility to the election and would be one way to dilute the over representation of the loopy green party

The Poodle v the Wong would add several colours

[Gozu]

Surely the next election will be Rudd versus Turnbull. Both parties would have to be thinking along these lines?

That was always my prediction.

Mine too G. It would add some colour and credibility to the election and would be one way to dilute the over representation of the loopy hard-right of the Liberal party

Fixed.

[fish]

Surely the next election will be Rudd versus Turnbull. Both parties would have to be thinking along these lines?

That was always my prediction.

Mine too G. It would add some colour and credibility to the election...

Agreed SP, but Julias stocks have risen in the past month or so.

Here is the Centrebet market for leaders of the respective parties at the next Federal election:

LABOR:
Gillard $1.75
Rudd $2.50
Shorten $9
Anyone else $11 or more

LIBERAL:
Abbott $1.30
Turnbull $3
Hockey $10
Anyone else $17 or more

[Sky Pilot]

Surely the next election will be Rudd versus Turnbull. Both parties would have to be thinking along these lines?

That was always my prediction.

Mine too G. It would add some colour and credibility to the election...

Agreed SP, but Julias stocks have risen in the past month or so.

Here is the Centrebet market for leaders of the respective parties at the next Federal election:

LABOR:
Gillard $1.75
Rudd $2.50
Shorten $9
Anyone else $11 or more

LIBERAL:
Abbott $1.30
Turnbull $3
Hockey $10
Anyone else $17 or more

Yes - her bounce in the polls is long overdue. Attributable in part to her fathers passing and a sympathetic public reation. Also due to the backflip on asylum seekers and of course neither her or her fraudulent government have made a major gaffe in recent weeks.

[southee]

Yes the Labor media spin machine played the sympathy card very well.

Front page news on most papers and Top story on most news channels.

Some voters would be stupid enough to fall for it.

Media overkill at it's best!

[mick]

Although I would never vote for Julia or the ALP, I find her more likable than Abbott, if the ALP can maintain a steady increase in popularity he should be replaced with Turnbull who seems quite popular with the Latte set if Q&A is anything to go by.

[Dogmatic]

Abbott has no chance of getting in. Julia's only chance of getting in is running against Abbott.
Please give us some decent choices.

[Sky Pilot]

Abbott has no chance of getting in. Julia's only chance of getting in is running against Abbott.
Please give us some decent choices.

there's certainly an element of truth in that