“A Coalition victory, should it happen, will be a warning from alienated Labor voters to their leaders,” Mr Abbott declared. “Never again sell Labor's soul to another party.” But when asked how he could repeal the carbon tax without calling a double dissolution election – given Labor and the Greens would likely block his repeal – Mr Abbott said he thought Labor would accept his “mandate”. “It's unimaginable that a defeated Labor Party would persist with a carbon tax,” Mr Abbott said. “Having lost one election through support for a carbon tax, why on God's earth would you lose a second supporting the same failed policy?” Mr Abbott confirmed he was prepared to break the Coalition's pledge to cut Australia's greenhouse gas emissions by 5 per cent by 2020 (on the levels recorded in 2000). Estimates by Treasury and independent modelling companies suggest that the Coalition's $3.2 billion Direct Action policy will fall several billion dollars short of reaching the targets.

“The bottom line is we will spend as much as we have budgeted, no more and no less,” Mr Abbott said. “We will get as much environmental improvement, as much emissions reduction as we can for the spending that we've budgeted.” Mr Abbott maintained the Coalition could reach its target with the money already allocated. During a wide-ranging question and answer session following his speech, Mr Abbott waded into the culture wars over the national curriculum; the privatisation of Medibank; commitment of troops in foreign wars; and whether he would encourage his daughters to pursue careers in public life. Last week in launching his education policy, Mr Abbott's statement said the national curriculum had been “politicised”. Asked what he meant by that, the Opposition Leader said the Coalition was mostly referring to the history curriculum.

The national history curriculum lacked references to “our heritage, other than an indigenous heritage” and had too great a focus on “issues which are the predominant concern of one side of politics”. “I think the unions are mentioned far more than business,” Mr Abbott added. “I think there are a couple of Labor prime ministers that get a mention, from memory not a single Coalition prime minister.” But Mr Abbott assured educators he would not “directly dictate” his views to them, but would simply offer his advice. Responding to other questions, the opposition leader said he thought any decision to send Australian troops into battle should be debated by Parliament, and he confirmed the Coalition would sell Medibank Private. Given the prominent role of his daughters in his campaign, Mr Abbott was asked whether he would encourage them to pursue careers in public life, given the sexist taunts directed at Australia's first female prime minister, Julia Gillard.

Mr Abbott said it was a “tough call”. “If they showed an interest, obviously I would give them as much encouragement as I could.” Loading "[But] I would also want to warn them that it is a pretty tough field, and if you're going to go into it you're going to cop a lot of barbs," he said. "That's why in this business you've got to have a thick skin as well as a strong ego."