Former prime minister’s ‘amazing’ discovery while door-knocking in his electorate becomes a ready-made meme

'I've never seen anything like this': street library sparks joy for Tony Abbott

On Tango Avenue, a quiet street in the hills between Dee Why’s main drag and the coast, Australia’s former prime minister and current advocate for beachside toilets has been door-knocking – and he has discovered something wonderful.

“I’ve never seen anything like this before,” he says to camera in a video he has posted online.

It’s a flourishing suburban movement. An exercise in self-help and building social capital, he says. A literary revolution, right there in Dee Why, which is surprising, perhaps, for anyone familiar with the surfing town on Sydney’s northern beaches, but let’s go with it.

It’s a street library.

“You read a book, you put it in here, and you take a book out,” he explains, helpfully. “Reading is such a wonderful way of broadening the mind, it’s such a wonderful way of exploring parts of the world that you can never personally see, and, you know, isn’t it a great comment on the people of Warringah, something like this, which is an exercise in self-help.

“An exercise in building social capital is happening right here in Tango Avenue.”

Tony Abbott (@TonyAbbottMHR) It’s amazing the things you see and learn when you’re door knocking. The Tango Avenue street library is a testament to the strong community we have throughout Warringah. 📚 pic.twitter.com/njDpFinFWl

The internet was quick on the comedy takes.

Matt Burke🥚 (@matttburke) Another brocken promise. pic.twitter.com/GrbKRYkbLD

sam langford (@_slangers) Tony Abbott in 2015: pic.twitter.com/aTNHJyRRQd

But perhaps we shouldn’t be too fast to dismiss it.

Sure, our former PM is “discovering” a widely known community initiative and getting so excited he’s decided to film himself explaining some extremely basic motor skills and then upload it on to the internet without checking if it is both new and not ridiculous.

Abbott’s enthusiasm for an activity based on education and sharing and looking out for the less well-off in our communities should be commended. It’s recycling, after all. That’s one step on the road to a credible climate change policy, something the former PM has also never caught a glimpse of.

Who knows, maybe Abbott will build one himself and chuck a few copies of Battlelines in for the neighbours?