‘Our challenge is not to move closer to Labor in the hope of being a smaller target,’ former PM warns, adding budget repair and national security ‘need champions’

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

Tony Abbott has extolled his own government’s “record of achievement” and has urged the Turnbull government to keep pursuing his reform agenda to counter the rise of “populist politics”.

With parliament to sit next week for the first time since the election, Abbott has reminded Malcolm Turnbull that his government will find electoral success if it continues to make the distinction between itself and Labor “crystal clear”.

“Our challenge is not to move closer to Labor in the hope of being a smaller target,” Abbott warned on Friday.

Speaking at the Master Builders Association in Victoria – just four days before the new parliament begins – Abbott sent a rallying cry to the party’s base, saying his government always tried to be mindful of “people who feel forgotten but would rally to strong and effective leadership.”

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Taking aim at several key and unresolved issues plaguing the Turnbull government, he said budget repair, national security and respect for “values and institutions that have stood the test of time” still need “community champions” like they did during the Howard government era.

On Friday, the Greens said they would block legislation enabling a same sex marriage plebiscite, in a move that could spell the end for the popular vote if Labor also decides to block it.

Abbott said voters should not be anxious about the direction of some federal policies because he was sure the Turnbull government would make the right choices.

“I’m sure the government will resist pressure to increase the renewable energy target,” he said.

“I’m sure the government will strongly support the coal industry which will provide baseload power here and abroad for decades to come – and continue to employ tens of thousands of Australians.”

“I’m sure it will work hard on the Queensland government to ensure that green sabotage and lawfare doesn’t stop the Adani mine.

“I’m sure it will encourage the South Australian government to develop the nuclear industry that could be a subsidy-free money spinner for that state,” he said.

He then criticised Labor and Greens senators for their behaviour over the last few years, saying the Coalition may have been in office for that period but it was “not in power,” because its savings measures were often blocked in the senate.



“Reformers can’t lose heart – even though a government with a solid record of achievement has just had its majority slashed,” Abbott said.

“Good government is possible, even in a difficult parliament, provided reformers keep making the case for change.”

He then introduced a relatively obscure concept to Australian political discourse, saying Coalition supporters ought to think of the Coalition’s reform program as a kind of “Fabian conservatism”.

“It may not be the sweeping and dramatic reform that excites headline writers but it will be incremental change for the better,” he said.

According to the rightwing US website American Thinker, Fabian Conservatism means “always moving to the right when we can and never supporting the left, but it also means that the transformation of America will come in increments. Fabian Conservatism means sometimes finding strange bedfellows (making common cause with leftists who have a particular ax to grind).”

Abbott then reiterated the need to rein in spending, saying the first thing the government must do on “budget repair” is to avoid new recurrent spending, “outside of national security.”

“This is the [New Zealand PM] John Key-road to surplus: not so much to find savings but to shun any new spending measure and to let growth slowly shrink the relative size of government,” he said.

“No new spending should be considered unless it will clearly boost economic growth. That could mean economic infrastructure, high-quality research and cost-effective new drugs – but not extra spending that’s mostly political positioning.”

“In our current circumstances, ‘first, do no harm’ is as good a rule for governments as it is for doctors.

“A good government could be notable for avoiding bad policy as much as for implementing good policy.

“I’m confident that a pro-reform Turnbull government will avoid returning to the bad old days of bailing out businesses with political clout,” he said.