Phillip Coorey: Abbott should have known his action would be incendiary. The derision – even from John Howard – which greeted his decision in March last year to restore knights and dames to the honours system was widespread, because it underscored a fundamental lack of connection with the mainstream. To then rub people’s faces in it by awarding one of the few top honours – just four a year are handed out – to an ancient royal known only for his brusque manner and penchant for insensitive and ignorant gaffes, was rather inexplicable. More so because of the context in which the decision was made. Anger inside the Coalition backbench and ministry has been building for some months because of the quality of decision-making coming from the Prime Minister’s office. Attempts to start this year afresh by ending last year with a spate of barnacle-clearing have failed because the government carried into the new year the cinders of its two most controversial budget measures – the Medicare co-payment and plans to deregulate university fees. This month’s decision to junk a planned part of the revised changes to Medicare was hamfisted and had MPs starting 2015 wondering whether the Prime Minister had really taken on board their concerns. Last week, he rang backbenchers assuring them everything was on track and he was listening. In these circumstances, every sinew of his political being should have resisted proceeding with giving Prince Philip the top gong. To do so indicates the Prime Minister has put zealotry ahead of pragmatism. It is more the act of a mischievous student politician who wants to aggravate the left as part of a campus brawl. The mood among the MPs and ministers was uniform on Monday. Such terms as “no political radar”, “politically naive” and “lack of political nous” were common. This is the start of Abbott’s second calendar year since his 2013 election win. Unlike with Gillard, no one is talking mutiny but the Prime Minister needs to be careful.Liberals are averse to punting elected leaders but everyone has a breaking point. afr/p/national/tony_abbott_continues_australia_xuJDIGHXA2SsBmTTzteYkL
Posted on: Mon, 26 Jan 2015 08:44:42 +0000
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