Tony Abbott 'very confident' he will still be prime minister next week
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Version 0 of 1. Tony Abbott has said he is “very confident” that he will remain as prime minister next week, while urging his colleagues not to recreate the leadership chaos of the Labor years. And the defence minister, Kevin Andrews, criticised backbenchers for the “self-indulgent” and “self-defeating” manner in which they were fuelling leadership speculation, rather than pursuing their issues privately in “the adult way”. The former assistant treasurer Arthur Sinodinos added his weight to backbench concerns on Wednesday when he said his support for Abbott was “not unconditional” and the government must reconnect with the public and reform its budget process. Sinodinos, a NSW senator and previously John Howard’s chief of staff, was asked during a Sky News interview whether Abbott would still be leader next week. “Comrade, come and ask me next week,” he replied. Abbott said on Thursday he was “getting on with government” and he respected all of his colleagues including Sinodinos. Pressed on his prospects of remaining in the top job next week, the prime minister said: “I am very confident. I am very confident. I know my colleagues, I trust my colleagues, I respect my colleagues, I know my colleagues all got elected to end the chaos and they are as determined as I am to make sure that that’s exactly what we do.” Andrews said he was confident Abbott would lead the party to the next election, due in 2016, and he issued a message to backbenchers raising their concerns publicly. “To continue the way this is going in the media with some people is simply self-indulgent and will ultimately be self-defeating,” he told the ABC. “There’s a small group of people who are disaffected or unhappy for a variety of reasons but the reality is that the senior members of this government represented by the cabinet are solidly behind the prime minister.” Andrews said if individuals had issues they believed should be taken up, they should speak to the prime minister, deputy prime minister and the cabinet. “That’s the constructive way of doing things; that’s the adult way and that’s what the Australian people deserve,” he said. The “adult way” reference is reminiscent of Abbott’s 2013 election promise of “a grown-up, adult government that thinks before it acts”. Asked whether he could serve in a Malcolm Turnbull-led cabinet, Andrews said it was “an entirely hypothetical question” and “the cabinet including Malcolm Turnbull are behind the prime minister”. Andrews helped topple Turnbull’s leadership of the Liberal opposition in 2009 after a revolt over the then-leader’s support for carbon pricing. “The difference between then and now is that there was a major policy issue of significance that was being debated widely in the party and in the community which we were trying to resolve,” Andrews said. “To the extent that there’s disgruntlement here, it’s without a cause. Where’s the big significant policy issue that people are addressing? There is none and it’s entirely different.” But the former Howard government minister Mal Brough, who is one of the backbench critics to speak out this week, raised serious concerns over the government’s Medicare copayment policy and cuts to the real wages of defence force personnel. |