The only winner in Abbott’s assault on Turnbull is Bill Shorten

IF Tony Abbott is acting for the good of the country, why is he proposing policies which fly in the face of those he had while in power, asks Miranda Devine.

Tony Abbott’s claims he is acting for the good of the country don’t ring true. (Pic: Dan Himbrechts/AAP) Time for builders not wreckers: Turnbull

MOST people can see that Tony Abbott is driven by revenge these days. The claim he is just promoting conservative ideas rings hollow when his bold prescriptions for good government are the opposite of what he did in office, and mostly impossible to legislate.

You could count on one hand his supporters in the party room, and opinion polls show much the same. A Sky News-ReachTel poll last week found 73 per cent of Coalition voters favour Malcolm Turnbull as leader.

Even in Abbott-friendly One Nation territory, whose voters make up nine per cent of the electorate, 23 per cent still prefer Turnbull.

Despite intense barracking from his media boosters, Abbott’s real support base is small, though disproportionately noisy and increasingly unhinged. Not a recipe for electoral success, but if vindication is your goal, who cares.

The only winner from all the wrecking is Bill Shorten, who is campaigning on higher taxes, re-regulating the labour market, expanding union power, and embracing the social engineering and climate agenda of the green left.

Poor fellow my country.