Who knows what persuaded Tony Abbott to stay in Parliament but a lot of people will surmise that he is positioning himself as a comeback leader under the banner of conservatism. If that is his plan, he is making a mistake.

The Liberal party room is nothing like the Tea Party in the US and is much more focused on practical policy. If anything, a conservative badge would represent a message that in the future he would divide the Liberals, not bring them together. 

Abbott is entitled to his views on social policy but he is not aligned with many public attitudes. Most Australians expect issues to be decided on their merits. A badge will only end up as trouble for him. 

The truth is that Abbott is no more a conservative than anyone else and at times barely a conservative at all.  

His idea of conservatism is often different to many in the party room, where he has been at odds with fellow MPs on issues like labour market reform and fiscal policy. 

While he is a great fan of Margaret Thatcher, too often Abbott has completely walked away from the normally accepted ideas of conservatism. 

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/comment/flagbearing-for-conservatives-wont-work-for-tony-abbott-20160201-gmiroq.html#ixzz3yybLfK8Z
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Annabel Crabb was the person who convince Abbott to stay in parliament. See there.

 

 

Tony Abbott is very close to going from a respected former prime minister to number one Coalition wrecker.

Abbott lost the prime ministership because he didn't listen. He didn't listen to his closest friends, to his opponents or the business community, and the public had given up on him. Of course politics can be rough justice and we can all see how he obviously feels being at the wrong end of the stick. I know the feeling: I lost the deputy leadership of my party when we lost in 1993 fighting for the GST.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/comment/tony-abbott-has-no-mandate-to-undermine-malcolm-turnbull-20160307-gncj1g.html#ixzz42FUQlBFq
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Tony Abbott wants to protect "his" turdy legacy... He does not want Turnbull to come up with stuff that would erase the crap that Tony has left behind. Strangely enough, contrarily to what some people expected but not Gus, Turnbull is letting Abbott get away with it, because despite being "popular", Turnbull is just there to carry on Abbott's turdy work — with a deceitful smile on his face. 
We've now got to reject the whole Coalition wholus bolus... Imagine, should Turdball cark it, we would be left with Barnaby holding the reins of this country... It would make you cry of laughter beyond the joke of the black stump...
trying to kill off democracy...

 

EXCLUSIVE

A majority of Australians believe Tony Abbott is trying to get his old job back but only 12 per cent think he's in with a chance – and almost two-thirds want him to pull the pin on his political career and leave Parliament now.

A new poll commissioned by The Australia Institute has found 63.4 per cent of Australians want the former prime minister to retire. Just 26.3 per cent believe he should stay on, while the rest are undecided.

More than half of Coalition voters want him to go, while about three-quarters of Labor and Greens voters think he should leave.

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Ben Oquist, the executive director of the left-leaning think tank, says the message is clear.

"Across all demographics, gender and voting intentions the electorate think the former prime minister should retire," he said. 

"While that is obviously a matter for him it looks like the public has moved on from Abbott-era policies and is looking for something new."

The national poll conducted last month by Research Now – with a representative sample of 1412 people – also asked respondents whether they believe Mr Abbott is staying in politics only because he wants to be prime minister again.

Almost 58 per cent agreed or strongly agreed with this proposition, while only 24.3 per cent disagreed or strongly disagreed.

Even among Coalition voters, almost half – 49 per cent – believe Mr Abbott is angling to get back into the prime minister's office.

Only 5.6 per cent of voters and 8.1 per cent of Coalition voters believe his claim he is staying on to serve the people of Warringah.

But while many people believe he's trying to make a comeback, very few people believe he'll be successful.

Almost 73 per cent of people agree with the proposition that "Tony Abbott will never be prime minister again".

Among Coalition voters, 70.5 per cent agree. 

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/australians-overwhelmingly-want-tony-abbott-to-quit-parliament-poll-20160401-gnwn6i.html#ixzz44dNYzerc
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