In (reluctant) defence of Tony Abbott

It’s been most amusing to see everyone pre-emptively writing Tony Abbott’s prime ministerial obituary this week. This morning, regular Liberal spinner Niki Savva joined the chorus in a piece that reads exactly like it was written by a left wing columnist about Abbott prior to the 2013 election, or a right wing columnist about Rudd prior to his 2010 replacement.

While just about every criticism of Abbott by both his colleagues and his (former) cheerleaders in the media has been completely valid, the simple fact is… I can’t believe I’m actually going to say this… It’s not Tony Abbott’s fault.

For sure, since becoming prime minister less than 18 months ago, Abbott has effectively trolled the country by attempting to introduce punitive policies that he never mentioned before, delegating most of the hard work, defying mathematics, dodging accountability, talking rubbish, indulging his fetish for royalty, and expecting others to defend him for it. In general, he has focussed more on enjoying the spoils of the job he demanded we give him on the sole grounds that he was neither Julia Gillard nor Kevin Rudd, than on actually doing the job. None of that is in question.

The real question is: Why the hell is anyone surprised about any of this?

To anyone who has paid the slightest attention to Tony Abbott’s behaviour over the last ten, twenty, thirty, forty years, everything he has done as prime minister should seem perfectly familiar – predictable even.

Tony Abbott hasn’t changed a bit – not in the last two years, not in the last twenty. The deferring to others for policy guidance, the inability to advocate for his policies in the face of the mildest questioning, the use of government to further damage already defeated political adversaries, the curiously generous career prospects for his family, the freezing out of any disagreeing voices, the whingeing to other leaders with bigger problems, the reintroduction of knighthoods and the awarding of one to Prince Philip? These are not brain snaps; this is Tony Abbott functioning normally. Anything else would indeed be a surprise, albeit a welcome one.

The government and the nation find themselves in this position because we, or enough of us at least, chose to expect just such a surprise. Egged on by the likes of Savva’s publication and its tabloid stable mates, the majority of us chose to suspend the disbelief that if we just gave Tony Abbott everything he demanded (well, except control of the Senate, you absent-minded meanies!), then he would stop throwing tantrums and behave like a grown-up. We knew what he was like, anyone who didn’t know should have, and we gave him the job anyway.

Now, instead of recognising our national mistake, we have miles of columns that can be summarised as:
Liberal Party in ‘dogged opposition does not automatically translate into competent government’ shock!

As enjoyable as the schadenfreude of the last two weeks has been, the truth is it’s not Tony Abbott or Peta Credlin who should be replaced. They’re doing what they believe they were put there to do. Those who really ought to be considering their positions (or having their positions considered for them) are all those in the media who chose not to apply this level of analysis two years ago. It’s everyone who poo-pooed, or simply ignored the warnings that Tony Abbott showed little evidence of being the steady pair of hands that many wanted to portray him as. It’s everyone who ever repeated the line that Abbott would “grow into the job,” and now blames Tony for being Tony instead of their own, ideologically driven lapse in judgement.

Don’t blame Tony for being Tony. Blame anyone who expected him not to be.