The one question Tony Abbott just couldn’t answer on 7.30

LEIGH Sales kept asking the Prime Minister the same question on 7.30, and he kept dodging it. Which is a shame, because the answer should have been simple.

PRIME Minister Tony Abbott says Australians “can be relieved” that he survived a spill motion in Monday’s Liberal party room meeting.

During an interview with Leigh Sales on 7.30, Mr Abbott indicated he’s not expecting another leadership challenge to materialise.

“We’ve had some difficult days, I absolutely accept that, but we decided today that we are not going to go into the abyss that the former government went into, not once, but twice,” he said.

“We will now go on together to build a better Australia and to point out that Bill Shorten has no answers, he just has a complaint.”

But when Ms Sales asked one particularly uncomfortable question, Mr Abbott had no answers either.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott on 7.30.

Ms Sales suggested Australians have seen three different Tony Abbotts: the Opposition Leader, the Prime Minister, and now the “changed, reformed” Prime Minister. She wanted to know who Mr Abbott really is.

Here’s the full, intriguing exchange.

Sales: “Who are you?”

Abbott: “Well, Leigh, let’s just focus for a second on the captain’s picks. There have essentially been two captain’s picks ...”

Sales: “Can you actually just focus on the big picture there? Because there’s been three different Tony Abbotts. I just want to know, which one are you?”

Abbott: “Well Leigh, I will let the Australian people form their own conclusions, but let’s just go back to the captain’s picks. There’s been two of them. There’s the paid parental leave scheme, which we took to two elections, but I accept that good policy though it would be in different circumstances, now is not the right time for an expansion of paid parental leave. And then, of course, there was the knighthood. Now, all of these awards in the Order of Australia are now being handled by the Council of the Order of Australia.”

Leigh Sales really wanted an answer.

Sales: “How about my point though, that there’ve been ... you know, we’re up to Tony Abbott 3.0? Do you accept that you’ve thoroughly confused the public about what your government is and what you stand for?”

Abbott: “Let’s look at the situation that we inherited, Leigh ...”

Sales: “Can we just look at the big picture about you?”

Abbott: “I’d rather have a conversation rather than an argument, Leigh.”

Sales: “I think it’s a reasonable question, and one that voters would be asking themselves, and it would be remiss of me not to put to you.”

Abbott: “And let me answer it by saying, going into the last election, the then-government was saying that the deficit would be $18 billion. It turned out to be $48 billion, there was a $30 billion budget black hole that the Labor Party had created, should have known about, and wasn’t telling us about. Obviously, when the circumstances change, there are some things that have to change with them. Now I absolutely accept Leigh, that I said the night before the election, that there’d be no cuts to the ABC. But let’s face it Leigh, that for 18 years, the ABC had no efficiency dividend, and when there are spending restraints across a whole area of government policy, surely under those circumstances, it is possible to revise a particular commitment.”

Sales: “But it’s interesting that you’re not able to answer the question to me. Who are you, what do you stand for? Which Tony are you?”

Abbott: “Well obviously, we stand for a government that believes in smaller government, lower taxes, and greater freedom. We are a government that believes in values and institutions that have stood the test of time. Above all else though, we are a pragmatic government which wants to do what works. And if we try to do something sensible one way, and it doesn’t work, we’ll try to bring about the same sensible outcome in a different way. And there are challenges Leigh. We at least accept that there’s a serious fiscal challenge, that intergenerational theft has been going on, that the former government started, and that we are determined to fix. The Labor Party is in denial about all these things. You can embrace a government which is not perfect, but is at least fair dinkum, or you can go with the people who gave us the problem, and are now trying to say that it’s not their fault, and they’re not going to address it.”

Always on message.

If you know who Tony Abbott really is, tell the author: @SamClench

Of course, the interview covered a wide range of topics. Ms Sales asked the Prime Minister whether, if there were no improvement in the government’s political standing, he would step aside before the next election to give his colleagues a realistic opportunity to win.

“I am going to give them a fighting chance of winning the election,” Mr Abbott responded.

“What I’m not going to do is play these Canberra games of ruling in this or ruling out that.”

Mr Abbott said he had the political skills required to win a second term, despite the Coalition’s abysmal poll ratings at the moment.

“We’ve had a couple of tough months. And the Queensland election result was obviously a bit seismic,” he said.

“So I can understand people’s anxieties, but the point I’ve been making to my colleagues is that I am a fighter.

“I know how to beat Labor Party leaders. I beat Kevin Rudd, I beat Julia Gillard, I can beat Bill Shorten as well. What I’m not good at is fighting the Liberal Party.”

Bill Shorten was enjoying himself today, but Mr Abbott is confident he can beat the Labor leader.

Pressing further, Ms Sales argued that any miraculous political recovery on Mr Abbott’s part would fly in the face of history.

“I think that political history shows many governments have been through difficult periods,” the Prime Minister responded.

“I was a junior member of the Howard government during its first term, and it was widely expected to be a first term government.

“I can remember stories about tensions between different people and the Prime Minister.

“We can dwell on the Canberra insider stuff ... or we can talk about the sorts of things that this government wants to do now.

“We will address the big issues in a different way. We will socialise decisions before we finalise them, and that way we’re more likely to take the people with us.”

That “Canberra insider stuff” Mr Abbott mentioned has been dominating the news cycle. On Monday morning, the Prime Minister defeated a spill motion in the Liberal party room by 61 votes to 39, with one rather amusing informal vote.

Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull had been touted as the most likely replacement for Mr Abbott in the event of a successful spill, with polls consistently giving him a significant edge as preferred Liberal leader.

“I’ve listened, I’ve learned and I’ve changed, and the government will change with me,” the Prime Minister said at a press conference afterwards.

“I am confident that what we have shown people is that we have looked over the precipice and we are not going down the Labor Party path of a damaged and dysfunctional government.

“Good government starts today.”

“Just forget about the previous 520 days, OK?”

Having fended off the malcontents within his own party — at least temporarily — Mr Abbott then endured a fiery barrage of questions in Parliament. Labor leader Bill Shorten cut Question Time short to move a motion of no confidence in the Prime Minister.

“There have been many broken promises by this government, but the promise to run a stable and mature government is arguably the biggest broken promise of this sad government’s last 17 months,” Mr Shorten said.

“This morning was a debacle.”

In response, Mr Abbott said he would not allow Labor to lecture him about leadership tensions.

“We are not going to take lessons in unity from a Leader of the Opposition who backstabbed two Prime Ministers,” he said.

“This is a good government that is getting on with the job of working for the Australian people.”