In speech honouring Margaret Thatcher, former Australian PM says instinct to ‘love your neighbour’ is ‘leading much of Europe into catastrophic error’

Former Australian prime minister Tony Abbott has called on Europe to take on Australia’s border security policies or risk “catastrophic error” and urged Western nations to “stand up for ourselves”.

In his first major speech since being forced out, Abbott said Europe should close its borders to migrants.

“The Australian experience proves that the only way to dissuade people seeking to come from afar is not to let them in,” he said.

Delivering the second Margaret Thatcher Lecture at London’s Guildhall, Abott said the invitationwas evidence that there was “at least a hint of Thatcherism about my government in Australia”.

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He used the speech to reinforce his government’s legacy. He listed stopping the boats, budget repair, the removal of the carbon tax, the royal commission into trade union corruption, free trade agreements and “calling out” Vladimir Putin on the downing of MH17 as his key achievements.



But his main message to London and Europe centred on border security and the assertion of Western civilisation. Abbott urged Europe to emulate Thatcher’s style, because Thatcher shaped the world rather than passively responding to events.

“Her focus, were she still with us, would be the things of most consequence, managing the nation-changing, culture-shifting population transfers now impacting on ­Europe; winning the fight in Syria and Iraq which is helping to drive them; and asserting Western civilisation against the challenge of militant Islam.”

Under Abbott, Australia adopted a strict border control system, turning away boats carrying migrants and refugees before they reached the country’s shores.

In his speech, Abbott, a former trainee priest, argued against the Christian tenet of love thy neighbour when it comes to asylum seekers.

“Implicitly or explicitly, the imperative to love your neighbour as you love yourself is at the heart of every Western polity … but right now this wholesome instinct is leading much of Europe into catastrophic error,” Abbott said.

Using arguments familiar to Australians, Abbott said that once refugees arrive in Europe and in Australia, they have crossed a number of borders and “however desperate, almost by definition, they are economic migrants”.

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“While prime minister, I was loath to give public advice to other countries whose situations are different, but because people smuggling is a global problem, and because Australia is the only country that has successfully defeated it, twice under conservative governments, our experience should be studied.”

Abbott said Australia’s border policies required “some force”.

“It will require massive logistics and expense; it will gnaw at our consciences — yet it is the only way to prevent a tide of humanity surging through Europe and quite possibly changing it forever,” he said.

“We are rediscovering the hard way that justice tempered by mercy is an exacting ideal, as too much mercy for some necessarily undermines justice for all.”

He added: “No country or continent can open its borders to all comers without fundamentally weakening itself. This is the risk that the countries of Europe now run through misguided altruism.”

He also urged European governments to be vigilant with home-grown terrorism.

“Of course you can’t arrest your way to social harmony but home grown terrorism does need a strong response,” Abbott said.

“Of course the overwhelming majority of Muslims don’t support terrorism but many still think that death should be the punishment for apostasy”.

He said Western countries needed the self confidence to “stand up for ourselves and for the universal decencies of mankind, lest the world rapidly become a much worse place”.

Abbott, who was a student at Oxford University when Thatcher was in office, has long named the former British prime minister as a leader to emulate, along with Ronald Reagan and John Howard.

Suggesting that some in the audience might be disappointed that his own prime ministership in Australia lasted only two years, Abbott named the events and policies he admired under her leadership.

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Thatcher “refused to accept the postwar consensus that Britain’s great days were gone”, said Abbott.

“On the Falklands, she did not see an Argentine grievance to be negotiated, but a monstrous violation of British sovereignty,” he said.

“On council houses, she did not see a government service, but a neglected asset that would be better looked after by owner-occupiers taking pride in their own homes.

“She didn’t see unions protecting workers so much as bullying their employers into bankruptcy. She didn’t see state-owned enterprises as national champions so much as an endless burden on taxpayers.

“There was a moral dimension and an intellectual clarity that made her a hero to liberal conservatives everywhere rather than simply another successful politician.”