Tony Abbott’s drunk voting mishap ‘not acceptable or admirable’, PM Malcolm Turnbull says

FORMER Labor treasurer Wayne Swan has unloaded on Tony Abbott for missing a 2009 parliamentary vote after he passed out drunk.

FORMER Labor treasurer Wayne Swan has unloaded on Tony Abbott for missing a 2009 parliamentary vote on global financial crisis stimulus measures after passing out drunk.

Mr Swan, who has publicly accused Mr Abbott of lying about the reason for his absence for years, said questioned why he had now finally admitted it.

“Perhaps he’s just utterly and completely lost the plot, it’s hard to know,” he said in Brisbane today.

Mr Abbott will say in an upcoming episode of the ABC television series The House that he passed out drunk in his office and was unable to be woken.

He missed crucial votes in the House of Representatives relating to the Labor government’s global financial crisis spending bills.

Prime Minister Turnbull this morning said it was “not acceptable or admirable in any way” for Mr Abbott to miss the important vote. Picture: AAP

Mr Swan said it showed Mr Abbott was focused on himself and not the Australian people.

“When the jobs of Australians were on the line, Tony Abbott didn’t care,” he said.

“His recklessness knows no bounds.” Mr Swan said the fact he was drunk showed how “self-indulgent” he was on that night.

“It says a lot about his negativity and it says a lot about his obsession with himself but it says a lot more about the modern Liberal party of Australia,” he said.

“They didn’t give a stuff about the jobs of Australians.” Mr Swan, now a backbencher, also took a swipe at Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, who was then opposition leader.

“He should’ve told the Australian public about this a long time ago,” he said

Former treasurer Wayne Swan has blasted Tony Abbott.

Meantime, Prime Minister Turnbull this morning said it was “not acceptable or admirable in any way” for Mr Abbott to miss the important vote because he was inebriated at work.

Mr Turnbull, who was Liberal leader at the time of the vote, said he had known why Mr Abbott had missed bells in Parliament.

“There was nothing we could do,” he told 3AW radio host Neil Mitchell.

“As Tony acknowledged, the Whips tried to rouse him to get him down into the chamber to vote, but they were unable to move him.

“It was a pretty important vote too — that was Rudd’s big cash-splash after the GFC.

“Remember when Rudd spent far too much money and I was arguing that we didn’t need to spend that much money that quickly? That was really the beginning of the reckless spending that built the foundations of the amount of debt that we’re now trying to whittle down.”

After long denying the incident, Mr Abbott has confirmed now it happened in an upcoming episode of The House With Annabel Crabb, set to air on September 5.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull says he was aware of why Mr Abbott missed the vote. Picture: AAP

The former Prime Minister admits he had been drinking with Peter Costello and Kevin Andrews.

“I think quite a few bottles of wine were consumed by the three of us,” he says.

“Peter was close to leaving at that stage, and I think all of us were in a mellow and reflective mood, so the reflections went on for longer, and later, than they should have.

“The impact was rather greater than it should have been.

“I think I famously slept through several divisions.”

Mr Turnbull said he was “disappointed” by Mr Abbott’s actions at the time but said: “You’ve gotta move on with these things.”

“I can’t remember anyone else missing a vote because they were too drunk to get into the chamber,” he said.

“But the fact is that Tony has fessed up to it, he knows it was an error, he’s acknowledged it, and that’s good.

“But it’s clearly not acceptable or admirable in any way.”

Mr Turnbull said he expected all MPs to attend every vote, “especially now with a one-seat majority”.

The Prime Minister did acknowledge MPs sometimes missed votes if they were on the other side of Parliament.

He also acknowledged the incident early in his term when MPs missed a vote because they went to the airport to fly home early.