Peta Credlin responds to ‘vicious and malicious’ rumours

PETA Credlin has used her response to “vicious and malicious” rumours in a salacious new book to take a sly shot at the state of the current government.

Peta Credlin chief of Staff to the Prime Minister in Question Time in the House of Representatives Chamber, Parliament House in Canberra.

PETA Credlin has used her response to “vicious and malicious” rumours about her relationship with Tony Abbott to take a sly shot at the state of Malcolm Turnbull’s government.

The former prime minister’s chief of staff, who was ousted from the job when Mr Abbott was topped last year, slapped down critics of her performance and lashed out at rumours and gossip about her relationship with the former PM.

But she also managed to take aim at the new Prime Minister’s performance, calling out government infighting and political “paralysis”.

“Having watched at close quarters the extraordinary way that Labor ripped itself apart during the Rudd-Gillard-Rudd year, I am dismayed that my own side is heading down the same path,” she wrote in The Australian.

“The Australian people are sick of governments that aren’t focused on them, and in an election year they will ruthlessly punish infighting and paralysis.”

Peta Credlin was always at the centre of criticisms about Tony Abbott’s government.

Ms Credlin was writing primarily in response to rumours about her relationship with Mr Abbott, that appear in journalist Niki Savva’s new book Road to Ruin: How Tony Abbott and Peta Credlin Destroyed Their Own Government, which went on sale yesterday.

Savva writes of the deeply dependent relationship between Ms Credlin and Mr Abbott in government, which led to suggestions they were having an affair.

“The idea that my relationship with the prime ­minister was anything other than professional is completely false,” Ms Credlin toldThe Australian in a separate interview.

“I can’t be any clearer — it’s about as low as it gets,” she said. “It’s vicious and malicious.”

In one anecdote, Savva reveals that Liberal minister Concetta Fierravanti-Wells warned Mr Abbott about the rumours in February of last year, saying: “Rightly or wrongly, the perception is that you are sleeping with your chief of staff.”

“People tell me to ignore it but I refuse to let this stand,” Ms Credlin said in response. “I earned my good reputation by working hard for four cabinet ministers, three opposition leaders and one prime minister so I am not going to let these sneering cowards ­define me.”

Peta Credlin pictured at the Australian Women’s Weekly Women of the Future event in Sydney.

In her opinion piece, Ms Credlin criticised Savva for failing to seek comment from her.

“I always thought a dignified silence was the best way to deal with Niki Savva’s attacks,” Ms Credlin wrote. “They were personal, invariably founded on unsourced gossip and rarely made any attempt at balance.

“(Savva’s) colleagues in the Canberra press gallery would often ask me what I had done to warrant her attacks. People were often taken aback when I responded that I barely knew her.

“The book is an attempt to justify the coup. That’s clearly evidenced by her refusal to speak with me or Tony Abbott. This is only one side of the story and, in time, the other side should be told.”

The pair worked closely together for years — even before Tony Abbott became PM.

Savva says she didn’t seek comment from Ms Credlin or Mr Abbott before publishing the book because she didn’t trust their responses.

“I learnt from bitter experience, as did colleagues of Mr ­Abbott, that their version of events could not always be trusted,” Savva told Sky News yesterday.

Mr Abbott himself responded to the book in a brief statement yesterday, highlighting his government’s record.

“I’m not in the business of raking over old coals nor am I in the business of responding to scurrilous gossip and smear,” Mr Abbott said.

“The best response to this book is the objective record of the Abbott Government. The boats were stopped. The carbon tax and the mining tax were repealed. And a strong start was made to the vital task of budget repair.”