Sales asked why Syrian refugees in Australia's detention centre on Manus Island did not deserve a chance at refuge in Australia. Tense interview: Leigh Sales grills Tony Abbott. Credit:ABC "Well we don't want to reward people smugglers and we don't want to reward people smuggling," Mr Abbott responded. "We're not particularly going to go and look for people who have used the services of people smugglers to get into Europe, because the last thing we want is to add to the problem of people smuggling, the last thing we want is to reward people smugglers and their clients." Mr Abbott said the aim was to destroy the Daesh "death cult", a phrase he repeated six times throughout the interview.

The heat turned up a notch when Sales challenged Mr Abbott on subject matters closer to home, including the effectiveness of his leadership. "Well I don't accept that." Tony Abbott hits back at Leigh Sales. Credit:ABC Sales asked: "When Labor left office, unemployment was 5.8 per cent; it's now 6.3 per cent. Growth was 2.5 per cent; it's now 2 per cent. The Australian dollar was 92 cents; it's now around 70 cents. The budget deficit was $30 billion when you took office and now it's $48 billion. How do you explain to the Australian people that you were elected promising, in your words, to fix the budget emergency, yet in fact, Australia's economic position has worsened under your leadership?" Mr Abbott responded: "Well I don't accept that. The boats have stopped. The carbon tax has ... " Sales interrupted: "We're talking about the economy."

Mr Abbott: "The boats have stopped, the carbon tax has gone, the mining tax has gone. We are now on a path to sustainable surplus and we've got three free-trade agreements finalised. If only the Labor Party and the CMFEU [Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union] weren't trying to sabotage the Free Trade Agreement with China." The pair continued to interrupt each other, before Mr Abbott asserted that "a lot of very good things are happening in our economy, and Leigh, I refuse to talk our country down". "I refuse to talk our country down and I hope the national broadcaster might join me in looking for the good and boosting our country, which has so much potential," he said.



Sales then queried what Mr Abbott would have done if she had previously helped former Labor prime minister Julia Gillard and treasurer Wayne Swan "look for the good". Later in the interview, during a to-and-fro about the public's perception of the Coalition, Mr Abbott said he was "not obsessive about polls. Obviously people in the press gallery like to hyperventilate about polls." Sales challenged him: "Prime Minister, sorry to interrupt, but do you really think that any viewers think that politicians don't care about polls?"



Mr Abbott: "Well, what I'm on about is more jobs, higher economic growth, safe communities - that's what I'm on about. And the policies that I'm on about to bring that about are lower taxes, more infrastructure and freer trade. That's what I'm focused on every day."

Last month, Sales was cleared of bias by the independent media watchdog for a controversial post-budget interview with Treasurer Joe Hockey that was queried by Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull. In that interview, Sales accused Mr Hockey of "backflips", "hand-outs" and making "excuses", and was accused of being less aggressive in her post-budget interview with shadow treasurer Chris Bowen. News reports described the interview as "brutal", "bruising" and "acrimonious". However, an investigation by the Australian Communications and Media Authority, which regulates broadcast media, found Sales was fair in her treatment of Mr Hockey.

