Prime Minister Tony Abbott faces more political pain when his measures hit a Senate ready to defy him

TONY Abbott’s popularity will worsen as his horror Budget unites an unlikely consortium of protesters and weakens his ability to govern.

Tony Abbott’s popularity has plummeted in the wake of his government’s first Budget. Picture by Gary Ramage

OPINION: Tony Abbott’s opinion poll deficit will likely worsen in the coming three months as his unpopular Budget unites an unlikely consortium of protesters and weakens his ability to govern.

Perhaps that’s why the Prime Minister seems to want voters to feel more sorry for him than he appears to be for those most directly affected by his economic statement.

Have pity, he seemed to be saying on Sunday, as his Government had inherited a “world of political pain”. Well, that pain isn’t going away for as long as the Prime Minister withholds empathy for victims of his Budget.

Mr Abbott insists voters should have known what he was going to do in this Budget, even when he specifically ruled out during the election campaign measures which have been adopted in Government.

Voters who feel they are being treated like dummies are unlikely to be grateful.

Poor Abbott, he will have to pay the high-income deficit tax. Photo by Stefan Postles/Getty Images

Mr Abbott’s attempts to present himself as a Budget victim are also unlikely to impress. He will indeed pay the high-income deficit tax, but that’s only temporary; his pay will be frozen for a year but the Remuneration Tribunal had decided that before Mr Abbott promoted it as his idea; he insists the lifetime travel gold pass for former-MPs has gone, but he will still be able to get one when he retires.

Even if the Government escapes this post-Budget fortnight in a battered but viable state, it has more trouble ahead.

From July, the Prime Minister will have in the Senate a cranky crossbench whose members will have the numbers to deny him a free hand in passing legislation.

Palmer United Party leader Clive Palmer will take a populist path and that means Mr Abbott could have to deal directly with him to get through critical Budget measures. Mr Palmer and some allies could have the power to make Mr Abbott look like he is unable to deliver his own policies.

Mr Abbott will have to play nicely with Clive Palmer to get through critical Budget measures. Picture by Gary Ramage

Voters mark Governments harshly when they cannot do their job and rarely give dispensation when they’re blocked by minority groups in Parliament. So the opinion poll pressure Mr Abbott is now feeling might not let up.

Meanwhile, the state premiers are loudly complaining they were like most other Australians affected by this Budget — unconsulted, deceived, financially wounded.

One of the Budget’s biggest surprises was a funding cut — ripped straight from the states — which the Government’s own document says “will achieve cumulative savings of over $80 billion by 2024-25”.

Demonstrators, protesting the Budget in Sydney at the weekend, were arrested by police. Picture by Mark Evans

The protest front forming among Liberal premiers and one Labor leader demonstrates this is not entirely a partisan fight.

However, the Labor Party will grab the opportunity to bolster its own partisan strength by attacking Mr Abbott’s values and credibility.

For the eight months of the Abbott administration, the Labor Opposition has only been able to react to the Government. Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has been unable to damage the Government ... until Mr Abbott gifted him this opportunity.

It is a gift which might make the Prime Minister genuinely sorry for himself in the long run.

Originally published as Prime Minister Tony Abbott faces more political pain when his measures hit a Senate ready to defy him