Abbott: We deserved more credit

Dumped prime minister Tony Abbott believes his government wasn’t given enough credit for its policies, none of which have changed since he was toppled by Malcolm Turnbull.

In his first in-depth interview since the leadership coup, Mr Abbott insists his government got many things right.He pointed out nothing had changed in policy-terms in the two weeks since his fall from the top job.

The former PM also told News Corp that governments will struggle to make difficult reform decisions under the ‘febrile’ politics which has led to party-room coups.

He questioned how tough decision can be made in Australian politics, when leaders are subject to ‘death by opinion poll’.

Governments will struggle to make difficult reform decisions and public trust will be hard to restore under the ‘febrile’ politics which has led to party-room coups, Mr Abbott says.

‘How can governments make the decisions about difficult and necessary reforms if prime ministers are subject to the kind of death by opinion poll which we have seen in recent times,’ he told News Corp Australia.

‘Obviously I know, having been a practitioner of politics in this country, that the top job has never been less secure.’

Despite his promise of ‘no wrecking, no undermining and no sniping’ after losing, Mr Abbott appeared to take a little dig at his side of politics.’

I never thought having watched the Labor Party implode that the Coalition would want to venture down the same path,’ he said.

He also suggested that nothing, apart from the Liberal Party leadership, had changed.’In a policy sense, there is very little departure,’ he said.

‘Border protection policy the same, national security policy the same, economic policy the same, even same-sex marriage policy the same, and climate change policy the same.

In fact, the rhetoric is the same.’Mr Abbott said he would not make a decision about his future before Christmas, but believed he was far too young to stop working.

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten said Mr Abbott’s comments confirmed Labor’s repeated line: ‘It’s the same government with the same policies’.

‘I think he’s probably feeling a bit bruised but that really is a matter for the Liberal Party,’ he told reporters in Casino on Saturday.

He said Labor could not repeat the Liberal leadership spill because party rules had changed to make it more difficult to change leaders.

source:skynews.com.au