Former prime minister says citizenship saga causing ‘pall of illegitimacy’ but ‘the era of the political assassin must end’

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

Tony Abbott has delivered a blunt warning to the New South Wales Liberal party’s moderate faction that they would be doing “extraordinary ... even terminal damage” if they opposed his efforts to democratise the party.

Speaking on 2GB radio on Wednesday, Abbott promoted his Warringah motion to preselect election candidates through plebiscites following the “one member, one vote” principle.

The motion was supported by 61% of members at the NSW convention in July but broadcaster Ben Fordham suggested that “the moderate faction, controlled by lobbyist Michael Photios” was attempting to prevent it from being ratified at the Liberal state council on 9 December.

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Abbott responded: “Well naturally ... I would be devastated if the overwhelmingly backed Rosehill resolutions were not supported by the state council and I think our party would be badly damaged.”

He said that given both the premier, Gladys Berejiklian, and the prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, had made it clear they supported “democratic reform”, his version should pass.

Current NSW Liberal party rules give preselection votes to branch representatives and central party officials but not all members.

At the July convention Turnbull spoke in favour of plebiscites, although there are differences of views in the party over the checks and balances in the system, including a minimum period of membership of the party.

“[People in] the dominant faction that I think has been manipulating things for a long, long time, people need to understand ... that they will do the Liberal party extraordinary damage, even terminal damage ... if they get in the way of the Rosehill resolutions,” Abbott said.



“How can you ask people to support a political party which does not trust its own members enough to give them a say in preselecting candidates?”

On Wednesday Turnbull met Bill Shorten to negotiate a system for parliamentarians to disclose foreign citizenship and produce evidence of renouncing it to resolve the constitutional eligibility crisis.

Abbott said the citizenship eligibility issue “has to be cleared up as quickly as possible” because it represents “a pall of illegitimacy hanging over our parliament”.

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Abbott defended the Coalition senators Fiona Nash and Stephen Parry, who had received citizenship by descent, and said that “may well now be [Liberal MP] John Alexander’s issue”.

He said there was “no question of anyone deliberately breaking the law” but rather they had discovered “to their horror and dismay ... citizenship they were not aware of”.

Abbott said the job of government is to “be a good enough government to win any byelections” that might arise if MPs were found ineligible.

Asked about his former chief of staff Peta Credlin’s assessment that Turnbull cannot survive as prime minister, Abbott argued against the “revolving door” of political leadership and said “the era of the political assassin must end”.

Abbott reiterated recent comments that the only way he could return to the prime ministership was if he was drafted, which he described as “not a highly realistic option”.

Asked about reports that Liberal MPs who support same-sex marriage had met GetUp, which is campaigning for marriage equality, Abbott said it was “pretty unusual” because GetUp “is the sworn political enemy of any Liberal-National government”.