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Australian PM Abbott 'has not considered resigning' | |
(about 4 hours later) | |
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott says he has not considered resigning, despite a slump in popularity and growing questions about his leadership. | |
In a major policy speech, he confirmed the scrapping of a paid parental leave scheme, one of his signature policies. | |
Mr Abbott admitted he had suffered a couple of months of "hard times". | |
He has faced criticism for awarding a knighthood to Queen Elizabeth's husband Prince Philip and suffered a shock defeat in state elections. | |
But he told journalists at the National Press Club in Canberra he believed he was still the best person to lead the country and had not considered quitting. | |
Referring to the previous Labor government, which struggled with infighting, Mr Abbott said his party was elected in 2013 because "the Australian people rejected chaos". | |
"And we are not going to take them back to that chaos... Let's also remember what I have said time and time again at the time... Once you go to an election it is the people who 'hire and fire'," he said. | |
'Times are tough' | |
He also said he had the full support of his deputy, Foreign Minister Julie Bishop. | |
"Julie's a friend of mine, Julie's my deputy... I believe I have her full support and I certainly look forward to continuing to have that." | |
Ms Bishop and Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull have been suggested as possible contenders for his job, although both have publicly backed Mr Abbott. | |
On the paid parental leave scheme, Mr Abbott said it was "off the table" as the country currently could not afford the scheme. | |
"I admire stay-at-home mums - as [his wife] Margie was when our children were young - but still firmly believe in the need for a better paid parental leave scheme to maximise my daughters' choices to have a career and to have a family too," he said. | |
"Still, I accept that what's desirable is not always doable especially when times are tough and budgets are tight." | |
The scheme would have seen many new mothers receive full pay for half a year. | |
But members of Mr Abbott's own party said it was too expensive and it received only a lukewarm response from women's groups because it did not address rising child care costs. | |
Asked if he would accept a knighthood, he said no, adding: "I think it is highly unlikely I would be offered any particular gong at this time." |