It was a relief for the people as well as for businesses putting an end to a suspense and a period of uncertainty. Since the last elections in 2010, the government led by Julia Gillard government has been under pressure from inside and well as from outside. Many were asking whether her minority government would last. Her problem was complicated by her alliance with the Greens and being at the mercy of the Independents. Furthermore Julia Gillard's government made so many blunders and was not popular which favoured the rise and rise of the opposition.
Until one month or two months ago. according to the polls and according. to most analysts and journalists, Labor was facing oblivion and annihilation. Some pundits were predicting that labour will be wiped out and at most could elect 40 candidates. It would have been a walk over and Tony Abbott was sure to be our next Prime Minister/ All this would arrive without the opposition spelling out their policies. It was a question of kicking Labor out and not voting the opposition in.
All was going well for the opposition and Tony Abbott had already written his victory speech. However only one big problem for the opposition, is that Tony Abbott, has never been popular among voters. For most of last year the unpopular Julia Gillard was the preferred PM. Tony Abbott approval ratings has never exceeded 50% even against Julia. Paul Murray and Peter Van Olsen on Fox were always highlighting Tony's big disapproval ratings. Nevertheless Australians were prepared to let him have a go a the primeministership and his party to govern Australia for the next three years.
Many people in Australia are quite sceptical about Tony Abbott. Some would say that he is not articulate, others find him too conservative while others are just sceptic about whether he can be a good Prime Minister. The misogyny speech of Julia Gillard has caused some damage to Tony Abbott as many still opine that he has a problem with women. That could be because he was first going to be a priest and then changed to politics. He is also a staunch monarchist which means that he does not like to see an Australian as head of the State. Is this also because he was born in England and still very much attached to his country of birth and his strong allegiance to the Queen? Tony Abbott is definitively a conservative and some think that he is the most right wing politician behind Pauline Hanson and Barnabe Joyce. He comes from the party of white Australia, a party that does not embrace or recognise multiculturalism and it is obvious that he is quite uncomfortable with
migrants. He also wants to destroy the unions and is the man who supported work choice, the nightmare of workers. There is no doubt that the Liberals campaign will be financed by big
business and the Murdoch press have already delivered battles against Kevin Rudd and Labor. The scandals of phone tapping involving the Murdoch press in England are still fresh in the minds of Australians. Can they really trust the Murdoch press and in particular the Daily Telegraph ? Rupert Murdoch want to see Tony Abbott be the next prime minister so that he can have his way and his Foxtel business in Australia prosper still more. Greed has no limit.
On a personal level Tony Abbott has a big problem to make people like him even though they would accept him to some extent. On policy level he has also difficulty elaborating his economic plans for the future, his policies openly support big business. His policy is not to tax big business nor the big polluters. His paid parental leave of 26 weeks of maternity leave will also apply to women earning 200K or 1 million dollars there is no limit. Tony Abbott will reduce the company tax by 1.5% which means that big business will save some five billions dollars which would otherwise have gone in the government's coffin for the nation. Tony Abbott is also a climate change sceptic, i.e. he does not believe climate change is real. His will repeal the carbon tax which means that big polluters will continue to pollute as much as they want. He is also against any market live the Emission Trading Scheme and event the Carbon Production Reduction Scheme which will put a cap on carbon emission. His direct action plan instead will cost taxpayers some seven billions.
This is the man who, according to the polls, will be our Prime Minister in September. In the 2010 elections, voters were prepared to roll Labor out but they stop short of voting Tony Abbott. Will it be different this time or will they give him the approval tick ? Time will tell and may God save Australia..
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