Abbott defends being drunk and missing crucial Parliament vote

TONY Abbott has defended his drunk vote mishap, turning the focus on the government and claiming welfare payments are being wasted on booze.

Former prime minister Tony Abbott has defended his past drinking incident saying it’s an “old story”. Photo: Mick Tsikas/AAP

FROMER Prime Minister Tony Abbott has defended the night of excessive drinking that led to him passing out in Parliament and, in the same breath, has criticized government expenditure and how welfare payments are being allowed to be “blown on booze”.

He has been under fire after revealing that the reason he missed a string of important parliamentary votes in 2009 was because he was asleep in his office after a boozy dinner from the night before.

“I can’t remember anyone else missing a vote because they were too drunk to get into the chamber. It’s clearly not acceptable or admirable in anyway,” Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull told 3AW radio on Friday.

Tony Abbott has received criticism from both Malcolm Turnbull and Wayne Swan about his drinking mishap. Photo: Kym Smith

But Mr Abbott has hit back, turning the focus to the debt left behind from the former Labor government, saying that it is a more important topic of discussion than his drinking habits.

“I was sober in the morning. But our country is still dealing with the debt and debt hangover of the former Labor government’s spending binge,” he told 2UE radio on Saturday.

“That’s what we should be focused on, not the fact that Peter Costello, Kevin Andrews and I had three or four bottles of wine over dinner.”

In an upcoming episode of ABC’s The House with Annabel Crabb, Mr Abbott recalls the night of excess, the morning after which he “famously slept through several divisions”.

Even though he had previously denied accusations that he missed votes as a result of being drunk in parliament, Mr Abbott insisted that his past drinking was an “old story” that he was retelling to Crabb “in a jocular way”.

Mr Abbott said he keeps up with exercise so he can occasionally indulge when eating and drinking. Photo: Liam Kidston

During the interview with 2UE Mr Abbott also brought up the issue of welfare money being misspent on non-essential items, pushing for payments to be replaced with a card that only allows the recipient to purchase necessities.

“With working age people on welfare, why shouldn’t the money they get from taxpayers be quarantined to the essentials of life?” he said.

He stated that alcohol is one of the big items that these payments are being wasted on and the implementation of a cashless card would help combat this issue.

“Certainly in lots of places, that money is being blown on booze and that’s not a good thing for anyone.”

When pressed about his own lifestyle habits the former PM said that one of the reasons he exercises regularly and keeps in good physical health is so he can indulge when eating and drinking “occasionally to excess”.

“I don’t think that anyone has ever accused me of not being a knockabout Aussie.”