TONY Abbott, the action man of the surf, the cycle, the quad-bike and the pulsing fire hose, seems to be running scared.

In fact, when it comes to any form of close scrutiny, the bloke is making himself such a small target he'd be hard to spot even clad in one of his presumably vast collection of high-vis work vests.

The small-target strategy is tried and true in politics and works especially well when you have an electorate looking to vote against an unpopular incumbent, rather than inspired to vote for what is a pretty lacklustre alternative.

To be fair, it is somewhat unreasonable to demand finely costed detail of every policy measure prior even to the release of the May Budget.

That said, there is a suspicious reluctance on the Opposition's behalf to even offer a broad-brush, conceptual picture of how it is going to balance a dizzying array of tax and spending measures.

Quite simply the numbers cannot possibly add up and both Abbott and his Treasury spokesman Joe Hockey look uneasy or evasive - or both - whenever they are faced with a rare question in this area.

&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://www.coveritlive.com/mobile.php/option=com_mobile/task=viewaltcast/altcast_code=0371035d8a" &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Time for Tony to talk the talk. Join Paul Syvret to discuss.&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;

This is understandable when you are trying to sell a blancmange of eleventy-nomics that involves big spending in areas such as defence and border security at the same time as cutting corporate and income taxes, and abolishing the mining and carbon taxes while also delivering a budget surplus.

Perhaps this explains why Abbott is basically refusing to stick his head up for anything but the most carefully scripted of media stunts.

Perhaps it also explains why Abbott - with a nice new wrinkle-free visage and an orange tan to match the most garish safety vest - has bowed out of his regular breakfast TV spot on Nine's Today program.

Most media minders would not consider Today host Karl Stefanovic the most gruelling of interviewers.

But apparently any possibility that Abbott is exposed to an unscripted question on a sticky subject is now to be studiously avoided.

As this newspaper reported in recent days, "paranoia has reached such heights that at a briefing of Coalition chiefs of staff, Abbott's chief of staff Peta Credlin told staff to stay off Twitter and watch out for waiters with recording devices, citing the covert recording of US presidential candidate Mitt Romney at a fundraiser".

Sound advice, as you never know if, while discussing the finer points of Mal Brough's campaign over dessert and liqueurs, someone is hiding in a nearby potplant, or even if a bug may have been planted in the pepper grinder.

Speaking of Brough, just watch Abbott's face when he is faced with a question about the whole "Ashbygate" affair surrounding Peter Slipper, former staffer James Ashby and possibly extending as far as the offices of Christopher Pyne and Abbott himself.

Deputy Opposition Leader Julie Bishop was fond of saying Prime Minister Julia Gillard had "questions to answer" about the AWU matter.

On that basis, Bishop and her colleagues also have a lot of questions to answer about the roles they played in what the Federal Court deemed was a court case that amounted to an "abuse of process" and was little more than a conspiracy with the "purpose of causing significant public, reputational and political damage to Mr Slipper". In short, the whole affair seemed designed to bring down a government via unsubstantiated smear - a plot that in many countries could earn you a sedition charge.

The difference between Gillard and Abbott is that the Prime Minister has faced down her accusers.

She has stood and answered questions until the questions ran dry.

She didn't run and hide.

She has offered Abbott - who used parliamentary privilege to accuse her of breaking the law - the opportunity to put up or shut up on the AWU claims.

He did neither.

Now the Opposition strategy appears to be aimed at shielding Abbott from any scrutiny that might relate to anything from Magic Pudding budget numbers, to the Slipper/Ashby affair, or industrial relations reform and public service job cuts.

This also has the advantage of reducing the opportunity for Abbott to come out with a populist thought bubble like his hugely generous parental leave scheme (funded, by the way, by a Great Big New Tax on more than 3000 large Australian companies).

There is always a danger though that this small (and still shrinking) target will create public perceptions of "what are you hiding?".

And that, Mr Abbott, is a fair question.

What are you so afraid of?

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Join Paul Syvret at noon today to discuss this issue.

paul.syvret@news.com.au

Originally published as Timid Tony is a true running man