Former prime minister Tony Abbott is the new president of the federal Liberal Party. Photo: Tony Abbott.
The Liberals have gone back to the future and elected former prime minister Tony Abbott unopposed as the new president of their party, which is currently suffering (in his words) an “existential crisis”.
The man who knighted a prince, munched on a raw onion, told the “housewives of Australia” to be mindful of their ironing, and stared silently on camera for half a minute while fighting an urge to punch out a reporter, is now suddenly the great hope of the Liberal Party.
Perhaps the party should also fill its upcoming vacancy of federal director (aka chief campaign strategist) with Scott Morrison or, better yet, Peter Dutton.
Don’t laugh, they might actually do something like that.
In reality, though, the director of far-right-wing lobby group Advance, Matthew Sheahan, is now odds-on to replace outgoing federal director Andrew Hirst, who has had enough of it all after almost nine years in the job.
If Angus Taylor’s ascension to the Liberals’ parliamentary leadership wasn’t an indication enough of the direction the party has chosen to head, Abbott’s grabbing the presidency leaves no doubt as to where the Coalition now sees itself on the political spectrum.
It is about as far right as it can be without actually becoming One Nation.
The surge in popularity of Pauline Hanson’s bunch of misfits is shaking the Liberals and Nationals to the core.
Perhaps it is the threat of political annihilation that is seeing the Libs and Nats embrace conservatism with more gusto these past months.
That train of thought just might be being too generous, however.
Just as One Nation emboldened a lot of disgruntled and angry people to step out of the shadows, it is now the excuse for many inside the Coalition parties to more publicly reveal the true depths of their conservatism.
Unlike Morrison and Dutton, however, Abbott knows how it feels to take an Opposition into government.
As an opposition leader, Abbott was formidable.
He came excruciatingly close in 2010, securing a hung parliament and forcing the Gillard government into minority rule.
Three years later, he trounced Kevin Rudd’s Labor Party to become PM.
Abbott knows how to campaign and do it well.
That’s the reason Taylor urged him to put his hand up for party president.
“I welcome him to the role, because he’s been one of our most successful opposition leaders in history,” Taylor said.
“And he’s going to work with me and rebuild the party.”
But here is where the grand plan could well unravel – at least for Taylor.
Hands up anyone who believes Abbott will stay in the background while in the largely administrative role of party president.
How many even know who Abbott is replacing as Liberal Party president?
It was former South Australian premier John Olsen, but most Australians had no idea because he wasn’t in the media, wasn’t campaigning, wasn’t ambitious for himself while party president.
Olsen was pretty much publicly invisible – as party presidents are supposed to be.
That won’t be the case with Abbott.
Word is the former PM wants back in Federal Parliament and is already on the lookout for a seat to parachute into.
Imagine if that happened. He’d then be just one step away from seizing the leadership from Taylor, who will undoubtedly continue to languish in the polls.
Even if Abbott doesn’t have eyes on a return to parliament (big if), he will still loom large over the party and in the public realm.
He is likely to become more the public face of the Liberal Party than the actual Opposition Leader.
Abbott is only at his best when he is in charge.
Let’s not forget that, as a mere backbencher following his demise as PM, he lost his own seat of Warringah in 2019.
(The Liberals have now created an art form out of leaders and former leaders losing their own seats – John Howard, Abbott, Dutton.)
Not only does Taylor believe Abbott can now help drag the Libs out of the doldrums, but Abbott thinks of himself as the party’s saviour.
He is already talking with evangelical confidence.
“Nothing I have achieved in my public life would have been possible without the support of hundreds and thousands of Liberals around the country,” Abbott said upon his election last Friday (29 May).
“I owe the Liberal Party big time, and that’s why I regard it as my duty to serve the party in this time of existential crisis … Australia has a spiritual malaise. We don’t believe in ourselves any more.”
A definite outtake of all this is that Australians can now choose between two major parties with clear policy differences.
That hasn’t always been the case. Labor and the Coalition have long been fighting over minor tweaks to similar positions.
No longer.
The Liberal Party has taken a sharp turn to the right with Taylor in the driver’s seat and Abbott riding shotgun (for now).
It will be interesting to watch how it all plays out – and to see how many women Abbott’s presidency brings back to the fold.
Original Article published by Chris Johnson on Region Canberra.
