The former prime minister Tony Abbott has again spoken out publicly, urging the Turnbull government to make changes to reconnect with the electorate and offering a plan to stop Labor winning the next election.



In an opinion piece in News Corp Australia tabloids on Monday, and in a follow-up interview on Sydney’s 2GB radio, he outlined measures to stop Labor’s momentum.

“We have to do something about housing affordability, and I think scaling back immigration until housing starts and infrastructure has caught up would be a good way of doing that,” he told 2GB.

“We’ve got to do something about political correctness, because we’ve got political correctness running riot in our country right now.”

But Abbott, who was rolled by Malcolm Turnbull in September 2015 after a string of poor opinion polls, has effectively ruled out ousting Turnbull himself as he warned governments should not dump prime ministers who are struggling in the polls.

Turnbull has himself now faced 10 bad polls and last week his ministers openly argued over housing affordability, prompting the former Liberal leader John Hewson to call for Turnbull to restore discipline.

“The best way to keep [Bill] Shorten out is not to sack an elected prime minister yet again but to ensure that the government does its job better,” Abbott wrote on Monday.

He later told 2GB: “If we don’t do something about Bill Shorten there could very well be a change of government at the next election.

“[He] may not be the world’s worst bloke at a personal level, but as a politician he is a union stooge who will send your power prices through the roof.

“If we did get a Shorten government it would be by far the worst Labor government in our history. It would be worse than Rudd, worse than Gillard, it would be [premier] Daniel Andrews from Victoria on steroids.”

Abbott said after a tour of country areas last week he understood voters “are sick of politicians who change their policies to suit their political convenience”.



“I reckon I spent the best part of eight days listening to a pretty good sample of middle Australia. And people aren’t happy.”

He said people were blaming Labor as much as the government for issues, but he said “there was an expectation that Shorten could soon be in the Lodge”.

Abbott’s five-point plan reflects his more conservative policies and includes axing the Human Rights Commission; cutting renewable energy subsidies to reduce power prices; reforming the Senate to end legislative gridlock; and protecting existing benefits for employees to make it easier for future generations to get work; and “don’t apologise for Australia, celebrate it”.

Abbott, who came up with the plan following his annual Pollie Pedal charity ride in regional Australia, said: “After eight days on the road I’m more convinced than ever that measures like these would get Australia working again.”

His latest intervention in the running of the Turnbull government is unlikely to be rewarded.

In February, Turnbull and senior ministers blasted Abbott for his “sad” provocative outburst.

Abbott used a Sky News interview and a speech to launch a scathing critique of the Coalition’s direction, saying it had become “Labor lite”.

The shadow assistant treasurer, Andrew Leigh, told Sky News that Shorten was a great consensus builder in the mould of Bob Hawke, while Turnbull had been a disappointment.

“What you’re seeing with Malcolm Turnbull is a leader who’s willing to do anything that his rightwing wants,” he said.

“I’m just one of 25 million Australians who feel let down by the promise of Malcolm Turnbull before he came to the leadership of being somebody who’d be above politics but who would bring a set of Middle Australia values, rather than simply making any compromise necessary in order to stay in office.”

The cabinet minister Darren Chester said the Coalition was already focused on being a good government to keep Labor out of office.

“We’ve got to work together as Liberal and National party MPs and ministers who are passionate about Australia’s future and deliver everything we said we’d do – that’s what people expect of their governments,” he told ABC radio on Monday.