The election of Tony Abbott as Leader of the Opposition is great news for Julia Gillard and bad news for Kevin Rudd. Voters now have a choice between a real bloke and an insipid pretender.
Australians seem to like Abbott’s knockabout style despite media attempts to focus on swimming togs which happen to be his uniform as a volunteer surf-life saver. He is also a long term volunteer at his local bushfire brigade. Since his days at Oxford where he studied as a Rhodes Scholar, played rugby as a front rower and won the heavyweight boxing championship Tony Abbott has maintained a strong empathy with ordinary Australians.
His values are a reflection of his early years as a trainee priest and his experience as a loving husband and doting father to three teenage daughters.
Abbott has prepared himself well for leadership. As a former journalist, political staffer, government Minister and author he has never shied away from debate in ideas that affect our way of life and our future direction. His plain speaking style is a refreshing contrast to his political opponent who is looking more like a nerd as each day passes. Julia would be pleased.
Australians should be forever grateful that Tony Abbott stepped up to the plate and stopped our headlong rush to sign up to the greatest scientific fraud of our time in Copenhagen. He rightly described the scam being pedalled by the high priests of the United Nations green movement as ‘crap’. He correctly identified it as a great big new tax to support a massive redistribution of wealth. Ordinary Australians knew exactly what he meant.
Rudd is emerging as a cross between Sir Sayalot and Dr Doolittle. His Copenhagen catastrophe has taken the gloss of his carefully crafted squeaky clean image and the public are beginning to ask what has he done? He said he would fix grocery prices, petrol prices and our hospitals but nothing has happened. He said climate change was the most serious problem facing our generation but he doesn’t talk about it much anymore. He has not introduced a single great reform. ‘Working families’ have disappeared from his radar. Nobody can work out what he stands for.
Ongoing fiascos and tragedies surrounding the great pink batt rort could lead to a new job as lead singer in Peter Garrett’s new band – midnight soil!
Tony Abbott is certainly not going to be everyone’s cup of latte. The commentariat representing the unproductive chattering classes will continue to lampoon him but the silent majority of ordinary Australians will welcome the fact that they now have somebody with the courage to lead the political debate in language they understand.
