Abbott reveals Trump-like vision for Liberal Party amid government dissent

DID Tony Abbott really just say that? Dissent within the government is boiling over, with the former PM going the full Donald Trump on Malcolm Turnbull.

DID Tony Abbott just coin a new Trump-like catch phrase for his personal political campaign? It sure sounds like it.

The former prime minister signed off a speech to conservative fans in Brisbane on Tuesday with a bizarrely familiar line.

“We need to make Australia work again,” he told a crowd hosted by the Institute of Public Affairs. “Because our country is plainly not working as it should.”

The catchy slogan came at the end of a long and revealing speech that wouldn’t have been out of place at a campaign launch, in which the backbencher appeared to outline his vision for the next Liberal government.

The manifesto of ideas comes amid talks of an all-out war within the Liberal Party, and accusations members in the Abbott camp are leaking to Labor.

Between barely veiled digs at the government and Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, Mr Abbott advised what the party had to do to win the next election.

“The next election can only be won by drawing up new battlelines that give our people something to fight for and the public something to hope for,” he said.

“To take the pressure off the cost of living, let’s stop subsidies for new wind power. To take the pressure off housing, let’s scale back immigration. Let’s make sure there are no known jihadis on our streets and to end the gridlock let’s reform the senate as soon as we possibly can.”

Tony Abbott made his campaign-like speech at a forum hosted by conservative think tank the Institute of Public Affairs. Picture: Facebook

The ousted leader told his agreeable audience that he was in it for the long haul when it came to politics, and appeared to sling a few barbs at the current Prime Minister.

Without referring to any specific leader, he said “people in charge” didn’t seem to share people’s values, face the same pressures, and “often hardly even seem to speak their language”.

“We might have to take what we can get today, but we should always seek what we want tomorrow,” he said.

Inspiring hope for his supporters, or “sensible reformers” as he called them, Mr Abbott said the challenge of his followers was to “stay the course, to keep the faith and to fight the good fight”.

“Because to do anything else would only make a bad situation worse,” he said.

Mr Abbott wrapped up his speech expressing despair that Australians, under current leadership, “can’t even look across the Tasman without a twinge of acute embarrassment”.

“We do need to make Australia work again, because our country plainly is not working now as it should,” he said.

“But I can assure you I’m in no hurry to leave public life because we need strong liberal conservative voices now more than ever. I will do my best to be a standard bearer for the values and the policies that we know have know have made us strong in the past and can do again in the future.”

Mr Abbott has vowed to stick around to outlast Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. Picture: Mal Fairclough/AAP

In a Facebook live video of the event, viewers responded to Mr Abbott’s Trump-esque language with supportive comments.

“Time to drain the Canberra swamp,” one supporter wrote.

“The Liberal Party is balancing on a ledge, bring it back Tony,” wrote another.

“When are you going to take the leadership of the Liberal Party?”

According to the Daily Telegraph, Mr Abbott told colleagues he would be there to pick up the pieces when “things go badly under Malcolm”.

Current and former politicians have responded to Mr Abbott’s comments, which come amid increasing dissent within the federal Liberal Party.

Former Victorian premier Jeff Kennett told the Seven Network Mr Abbott “won’t be prime minister again”.

“There are some good men in the ranks but this division takes the focus away from good government and, if they are not careful, they will undermine both the Menzies and the Howard legacy,” he said.

Attorney-General George Brandis said he hadn’t seen Mr Abbott’s speech, and dismissed his comments as distraction and “political tittle-tattle”. Mr Brandis told ABC Radio his colleague was committed to getting the government re-elected.

In an interview with Sky News, independent Senator Derryn Hinch wasn’t so keen to downplay the division, saying Abbott supporters within the party were moving against Malcolm Turnbull.

“I actually believe, and I say this quite seriously, that senior people in the Abbott camp are leaking directly to Bill Shorten. It is so destructive,” he said.

“They want to bring down Malcolm Turnbull, the don’t care if they lost the next election, they’ll start again and they’ll regroup and this is from the Abbott camp.”