As a poll sceptic, I'm fairly rare in Parliament House. Most of the building watches opinion polls with the eagerness of sailors looking for land. For those on the Coalition side, the fact that almost every opinion poll in the past three years has gone in their favour has given them a strong sense of confidence that they would form government at this election.

The Coalition won the election with a convincing margin, and I congratulate Tony Abbott on becoming our 28th prime minister. But, given the length of time the Abbott government has had to prepare for office, the real surprise is the number of major policy questions that lie unanswered. Here are 10 for starters.

Can prime minister elect Tony Abbott handle the challenge ahead? Credit:AP

First, given that we know from independent experts such as the Grattan Institute that direct action will not meet the bipartisan target of cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 5 per cent by 2020, how does the government intend to reduce our emissions? Given that Australia has just had the hottest summer on record, is it really acceptable for the developed nation with the highest emissions per person to back away from action on carbon emissions?

Second, we know that one of the leading causes of indigenous disadvantage stems from incarceration, which is why both parties are committed to adding it into the Closing the Gap targets. But given that he has committed to cutting funding to Aboriginal legal aid, how will Abbott ensure that this doesn't lead to more indigenous people ending up in jail?