Updated ,first published
Has Angus Taylor made a terrible mistake?
Last Friday, shortly after 3pm, former Liberal leader and prime minister Tony Abbott was elected unopposed as president of the party’s federation.
The role is usually a behind-the-scenes situation that requires someone who can gently persuade, occasionally twist the arm and generally get things done with little fuss.
In other words, a very different approach to Abbott’s hard-charging, take-no-prisoners style, which was, and is, characterized by fervor and unwavering conviction in the rightness of his causes.
Taylor has long been a supporter of Abbott, who for many years has been one of his political advisers, and backed the former prime minister against former foreign minister Alexander Downer for the party presidency.
Downer, now the party’s vice-president, announced that his colleagues in parliament would need to become “media personalities” in the next few years to get in front of the Australian people and convince them that the current Labor government needs to be voted out.
He didn’t have Abbott in mind. Indeed, the former prime minister, after a rousing five-minute speech on Friday afternoon that reminded everyone of his great oratory skills, declined an interview about his new role.
But being Liberal Party president is the most front-line political job Abbott has had since losing the Warringah seat to independent Zali Steggall in 2019.
And just three days after his election as president, Abbott couldn’t resist the lure of the spotlight on Monday morning.
In quick succession, Abbott appeared on Nine Today show, the ABC’s Radio National breakfast show and Sky News. He also sent out a fundraising email to members.
During the telecast, he sounded as clean and serious as he did more than a decade ago when he was campaigning against the Gillard government’s carbon and mineral tax.
And that is the problem.
Abbott was seen as an alternative opposition leader. And, of course, more refined and influential than Taylor.
He can’t work with anything other than laser-like focus, like Arnold Schwarzenegger in the original version. Terminator film, and risks overshadowing his less experienced and less flashy successor.
Abbott told the ABC’s Sally Sara that he “didn’t expect to be in the media every day” but that his election as president could convince skeptical voters (that is, those people who have broken away from the opposition for One Nation) that the Coalition was right about scrapping the new Labor tax, ending so-called mass immigration and more.
The election of Abbott as party president is the political equivalent of the Rorschach test, a test in which the subject is asked to describe what he sees in a series of ambiguous inkblots.
What?
Or do they see an outspoken patriot who will fight for Australia and who, with devastating effect, can identify and distill the problems of the current government and its policies into a series of three words that define the problem and offer solutions?
Abbott was the most effective opposition leader in recent Australian history. The problem was, once he was installed as prime minister, three-word slogans weren’t enough (of course he wouldn’t agree with this) and he seemed out of place with his party room and the Australian people.
Taylor supported Abbott for president because they are ideological allies and because the Liberal Party is in crisis, as Abbott admitted in what could be called his inauguration speech. Now it’s “all hands on deck” to save the party from going down, and One nation has risen to second place – and even first place – in opinion polls.
By preparing Abbott to return to office, Taylor is using every tool and every ally at his disposal to revive the party’s fortunes.
The problem is that Abbott, depending on how often he appears in the media, could be a huge nuisance to the current opposition leader – and a voice overshadowing his own.
At a time when Taylor is trying to establish his own trust with Australians, and needs to convince voters that a modern Liberal party is in touch with their needs, the last thing he needs is someone who has been making it his job to step in regularly to share his thoughts.
At best, it sends mixed messages.
Worse, it undermines Taylor and makes him look like an Abbott puppet.
And no one will vote for a puppet when Australians are crying out for the real thing.
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James Massola is a leading political analyst. He was previously national affairs editor and Southeast Asia writer. He has won Quill and Kennedy awards and was a Walkley finalist. Connect securely to Waves @jamesmassola.01Connect through X or email address.
