Andie Fox: Tony Abbott, the prime minister of women

Back in September 2013, I argued that Tony Abbott appointing himself women's minister might not be such a bad thing. He wouldn't make landmark progress for women, I predicted, but he'd give the portfolio some muscle in the cabinet room, and given his reputation on gender issues, he'd have something personal at stake in the outcome.

But since that time Abbott has managed to exacerbate his "woman problem". The infamous wink caught on camera during talk-back radio, when the caller revealed she does phone sex work, was a particularly insensitive look from Abbott given she was also telling him about the hardships she faces from his budget.

Speaking of the budget, it's one that disproportionately hurts women. The harshest aspects for women include cuts to family payments that squeeze single parent families, lower increases to pensions, and freezing superannuation contributions as well as cutting the low-income super rebate. Older women are especially vulnerable to these kinds of changes given they retire with an average superannuation of almost half that received by men.

The introduction of a draconian GP co-payment also disproportionately affects women, as they have more GP visits than men. Changes to the repayment of university fees appear to put a greater interest repayment load on young women going on to have children. And critically, Abbott's signature women's policy, the enhanced paid parental leave scheme has now been deferred with no clear signal of return.

Possible wins for women under Abbott? I'm struggling here, but the fact that control is incredibly centralised in the Abbott government and that his office is led by female chief of staff, Peta Credlin, makes this an interesting case in power to observe on a personal level. And whether you find Abbott sincere or not, it was still noteworthy that he declared himself feminist on International Women's Day this year.

• Andie Fox is a freelance writer and commentator

John Quiggin: Tony Abbott, the prime minister of infrastructure

john quiggin

The defining feature of the Abbott government, from civil liberties to education policy and beyond, is that it is "all culture war, all the time". To understand the government's line on any issue, it is sufficient to look at the tribal enemies who are being punished or the tribal allies who are being rewarded.

This is just as true of Abbott's pledge to be "the infrastructure prime minister" as of Hockey's "lifters and leaners" budget.

The term "infrastructure prime minister" does not, as one might suppose, imply a generalised enthusiasm for nation-building investment projects. Rather, it is necessary to distinguish between "good" infrastructure, benefitting ordinary Australians as Abbott perceives them, and "bad" infrastructure, foisted on the public by un-Australian groups such as environmentalists, trade unionists and the Labor party.

The most obvious piece of "bad" infrastructure is the NBN, too closely identified with Kevin Rudd to be anything but anathema. Unsurprisingly, the government has commissioned a hatchet job on the project, based on the unsurprising premise that, if we don't discover any new uses for the Internet, our existing infrastructure, with a modest upgrade will suffice to meet our needs. More generally, with any project inherited from the previous government, the only question is whether to appropriate it, and claim the credit, or dump it and present it as an example of wasteful Labor spending.

In transport infrastructure, the distinction between "goodies" and "baddies" is obvious. Cars are good, and public transport (at least in urban areas) is bad. Public transport hits all the tribal enemy buttons for Abbott: liked by environmentalists, a largely unionised workforce and a service that primarily benefits Labor voters.

The divide is even more extreme in relation to energy. Despite the sovereign risk involved, the government looks set to dump the renewable energy target, with the aim of transferring vast amounts of wealth to coal-fired electricity generators. Along with bad economics, the government has engaged in the kind of scaremongering normally found on the fringes of the environmental movement, holding repeated inquiries into the totally spurious health risks of wind turbines.

Given the nature of its tribal enemies and supporters, the government's culture war approach to infrastructure inevitably means that its thinking is stuck in the 20th century. Renewable energy, the Internet and the decline of car culture, all notable trends of the 21st century here and elsewhere, are totally alien to the middle-aged and older men whose prejudices form the basis of this government's policy. Sadly, here as elsewhere, tribal enmity is not a good basis for policy.

• John Quiggin is an Australian laureate fellow in economics at the University of Queensland

Celeste Liddle: Tony Abbott, prime minister of Indigenous affairs

When I think of Tony Abbott's time in office, the only way I can describe his efforts is "unsettling". The fears I held of him taking on the Indigenous Affairs portfolio have unfortunately been cemented and then some.

I'd argue that whilst holding this portfolio, Abbott actually has set out to infuriate the Indigenous community. He has openly celebrated mainstream ideals whilst further entrenching Indigenous marginalisation. Abbott's recent suggestion that the defining moment of this country was the arrival of the First Fleet was indicative of this mentality. In one small comment he ignored several millennia of preceding history not to mention the consequences this invasion has had on Indigenous people. Combined with his "unsettled" comments, I wonder if our prime minister thinks Aboriginal people were all in suspended animation prior to 1788.

What Abbott has said, though, is the tip of this iceberg. The $500m worth of cuts handed down to Indigenous affairs in the federal budget have been disastrous. I cannot see, for example, that anything positive is going to come of draining resources out of Aboriginal Legal Services when we are still incarcerated at exorbitant rates, nor any benefits to Family Violence Prevention services when Aboriginal women are still 45 times more likely to experience family violence.

Abbott also doesn't seem to be interested in engaging with diverse Indigenous voices. Abbott defunded the democratically-community-elected National Congress and put in place a hand-picked Indigenous Advisory Council. He has stated that the Indigenous community wish to be recognised within the Australian Constitution yet has ignored the diversity of Indigenous voices on this issue. Abbott seemed to endorse Andrew Forrest's review of Indigenous employment and economic development yet many peak community organisations want a parliamentary inquiry into this document because it failed to allow the opportunity for submissions from the Indigenous community.

If this has been his first year as Indigenous affairs minister, then I loathe to think what his next two years will bring.

• Celeste Liddle is National Indigenous Organiser for the National Tertiary Education Union

Oliver Milman: Tony Abbott, the climate change prime minister

For his detractors, Tony Abbott's stance on climate change has been set in stone since 2009, when he infamously said the science of human-caused warming was "crap."

Abbott has used his first year in power to negate this image as a climate change denier, not so much by aggressively supporting the overwhelming science, but by attempting to sweep the issue off the agenda entirely. He got his landmark victory in July, scrapping the carbon price after successfully framing the issue as one of household power bills rather than how Australia must avoid the worst ravages of climate change. Australia became the first country to scrap a carbon price and, with the Coalition's widely unloved Direct Action alternative yet to be legislated, the nation is in the unhappy position of having no specific policy to lower carbon emissions. The rise in emissions since the carbon price's repeal may be a sign of a regressive trend to come.

The idea that economic growth can only be achieved through a regrettable but necessary increase in emissions appears firmly entrenched. Climate change is not on the agenda in the upcoming G20 gathering in Australia, to the surprise of other nations, with Abbott stressing that economic growth and job creation must be a priority. Abbott got into an unhappy tangle with the science of climate change in the first months of his prime ministership, dismissing the link between rising temperatures and bushfires and accusing the chief UN climate official of "talking through her hat" when she pointed out the correlation.

The CSIRO and the department of environment clearly link climate change to extreme weather, although the latter seems to have modified its thinking.

Abbott has, in fairness, recently reigned in such comments on climate change, consistently stressing that he trusts the science. In July, he admitted that some of his previous statements on the top were perhaps "a little over the top." "My position is that climate change is real, humanity does make a contribution and it's important to have strong and effective policies to deal with it and that's exactly what the Coalition's Direct Action policy is," he said. How effective Direct Action is, and whether a reluctant senate will even legislate it, will be key variables in how effective Abbott's government is in proving it does take climate change seriously.

• Oliver Milman is reporter for Guardian Australia

Oliver Laughland: Tony Abbott, the prime minister of border security

Has Abbott stopped the boats? The common thesis these days is that the government has near delivered on its promise at a great cost, of course, to its record on human rights.

The reality is a little different. As a Guardian Australia analysis of "on-water" events under the Coalition shows, the boats have continued to come. We just hear little about them these days thanks to the extreme cloak of secrecy imposed under the military-led border regime of Operation Sovereign Borders.

Yes, the number of registered arrivals have dropped since Abbott came to power with just one boat – the now infamous SIEV 885 carrying 157 Tamils - coming ashore since December 2013. But "stopping the boats" and preventing "successful people smuggling ventures" are two different matters.

The aggressive programme of turnbacks and the extraordinary lengths to which the Abbott government will go to handle the problem (for example, handing over 41 Sri Lankans back to the Sri Lankan navy in an unprecedented on-water transfer) have done much to prevent successful ventures. But the boats will inevitably keep coming - the latest statistics from the UNHCR show that for the first time since the second world war, over 50 million people were forced to flee their homes.

And what of the consequences? Medical care that results in "gross departures from standard norms" is the baseline for asylum seekers in detention. One - likely two - deaths on Manus without a single refugee resettlement happening in over a year. Children spending three times longer in detention than under the previous government. Syrians detained offshore offered repatriation despite the prospect of certain death. Children sexually assaulted on Nauru.

The list goes on and on.

Whilst the Australian public may be largely at ease with Abbott's new age of border regime, many around the world are looking on in shock and disbelief.

• Oliver Laughland is a reporter for Guardian Australia