Tony Abbott warns Coalition at risk of losing base to One Nation if it doesn't change tack
Updated
Tony Abbott has lashed out at the Turnbull Government, saying conservatives see it as "Labor lite" and its base will desert it for One Nation unless it shunts to the right.
Key points:
- Tony Abbott says the drift away from major parties is a sign of a loss of faith in politics
- Says the Government needs to cut immigration, Renewable Energy Target
- Intervention will be seen by Mr Turnbull and others in Cabinet as the latest move in a campaign of destabilisation
The policy remedy the former prime minister prescribed, included a halt to all new spending, cutting immigration, ending renewable energy subsidies, scrapping the Human Rights Commission and reforming the Senate.
His intervention is yet another shot at Malcolm Turnbull and it will be seen by him and many in Cabinet as the latest move in a deliberate campaign of destabilisation.
Launching the book Making Australia Right, penned by a group of prominent conservatives, Mr Abbott said a sense of disappointment and disillusionment pervaded the essays.
"Many of the people who normally support Coalition governments aren't happy," he said.
"They are publishing their own ways to 'make Australia right' because, they think, the Government is not up to it.
"It's a cri de coeur from people who think that Labor is moving to the green left and that the Coalition has become Labor lite."
Mr Abbott said the next election was winnable, but only if the Government changed tack.
He said it needed to find policy that was "philosophically acceptable, economically responsible and politically saleable".
"Why not say to the people of Australia: we'll cut the [Renewable Energy Target], to help with your power bills; we'll cut immigration, to make housing more affordable; we'll scrap the Human Rights Commission, to stop official bullying; we'll stop all new spending, to end ripping off our grandkids; and we'll reform the Senate to have government, not gridlock," he said.
Abbott says Government has to overcome challenges
Mr Abbott pointed to the drift away from the major parties as a sign of a loss of faith in politics.
Nearly 40 per cent of the electorate now "couldn't bring themselves to vote for either of the two parties that have governed us for 100 years".
"And it's worse now," he said.
"In Queensland, polls have the Coalition vote 8 percentage points down since the election and One Nation 12 percentage points up."
The reasons were obvious: abundant land and unaffordable housing, high labour costs and regulatory burdens and falling standards in education.
"It's true that to be an Australian — almost any Australian — is to have won the lottery of life, but it won't stay that way unless we lift our game," Mr Abbott said.
"And yes, there's an Opposition in denial about the problems it created when in office; there's a populist Senate; there's a media that often mistakes insider gossip for serious journalism; and there's a public that demands to enjoy things today but to put off paying for them.
"Still, the Government's job is to face up to these challenges and to overcome them. It's harder than ever, but it still has to be done.
"In the long run, we do indeed need a conservative version of the left's 'long march through the institutions'.
"We do need to make it respectable again to be liberal on economic questions and conservative on social ones."
Abbott says he has duty to ensure party 'stays on the right track'
Speaking about the book launch on Sky News, Mr Abbott said he felt as a former party leader he had a duty to ensure the Liberal Party stayed "on the right track".
He also criticised Mr Turnbull for choosing to live in his waterfront mansion rather than the official prime ministerial residence, suggesting he was being a "burden on the taxpayer" by not downsizing to Kirribilli House.
"The advice I got back in early 2014 was that if I stayed at Forrestville it would cost an extra million a year in security," he said.
"I thought then I was really obliged to live in the house that the taxpayer provides for the Prime Minister."
Mr Abbott said it would be a "better look" for both the Prime Minister and the Government if Mr Turnbull moved to Kirribilli House.
Topics: government-and-politics, abbott-tony, political-parties, liberals, elections, australia
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