The day after being dumped as Australia’s Prime Minister, Tony Abbott fronted the press with a message for his successor.
“My pledge today is to make this change as easy as I can … There will be no wrecking, no undermining and no sniping,” Abbott said.
In a matter of hours on Monday, Malcolm Turnbull went from the country’s communications minister to new leader, the fifth administration in five years.
He staged the internal coup that Abbott had assured voters would never happen to the Liberal Party.
For years, the former Labor government was rife with infighting, as Julie Gillard first ousted Kevin Rudd in 2010, who then did the same to her in 2013.
When he won the Federal election in 2013, Abbott promised his would be a stable government. That was not to be.
He addressed the media outside Parliament House in Canberra more than 12 hours after losing a party room vote to Turnbull, 54 to 44.
Parting message for the media
While Abbott said there’d be no sniping, he hit out at what he called the “febrile media culture” that “rewards treachery.”
“If there’s one piece of advice I can give to the media, it’s this: refuse to print self-serving claims that the person making them won’t put his or her name to. Refuse to connive to dishonor by acting as the assassin’s knife.”
He also hit out at polling, which he appeared to blame for the recent high turnover of Australian prime ministers.
“The nature of politics has changed in the past decade. We have more polls and more commentary than ever before. Mostly sour, bitter, character assassination. Poll-driven panic has produced a revolving door prime ministership which can’t be good for our country,” he said.
Australia has had five leaders — and in one case the same one twice — since 2007, when long-time Liberal leader John Howard lost the federal election to Labor’s Kevin Rudd. After Rudd came Gillard, then Rudd, then Abbott. And now Turnbull.