The Slow Death of Tony Abbott

Source: ABC News

OK, so stop me if you've heard this one before, but there was this election. A federal election. About a month ago. The general public basically rejected both sides of mainstream politics. But at the same time, both major parties came extremely close towards the ultimate goal of winning the federal election in question. The new parliament sits on a knife edge, and even the "winning" party knows they are a major cock-up away from being turfed out, in exchange for the Other Guy.

So, with all that understood, why the hell would Tony Abbott be acting like such a twit when it comes to his dealings in the new parliament? I mean, really! Does this guy simply not get it?

Tony Abbott appears to be on a strategy that most likely appears quite logical to him - wreck everything and anything on the Government's side, until such time as the ALP House of Cards comes falling down and he can claim his rightful place as the next PM of Australia.

Such a shame, then, that the strategy looks like a piece of crap. And sadly, could very well succeed. Which makes it even worse.

Of recent note was his party's attitude towards the whole notion of the pairing arrangements with the Speaker. Even though his own party had signed the agreement just weeks before with the ALP and the Independents, the Mad Monk feels quite comfortable in walking away from that agreement, most likely because it suits his personal interests best. All it really does is make me wonder if the original signing was just a simple attempt to get the support of the Independents, and given he didn't end up getting it, the simple reality became that all bets were off.

Ho bloody hum.

Then of course I guess we have to question Tony's actual ability as a leader, and what better example of this emerges in his decision to keep Joe Hockey on as Shadow Treasurer. Sorry, but that decision just defies logic. The man is so not suited to such a position. I could see him in a shadow portfolio like Education, or Health - but not the nation's coffers. Especially after the $11b black hole election debarcle. If the Coalition wanted some serious economic credibility, it'd dump Hockey for someone like Andrew Robb pretty quickly.

Or even better still, Malcolm Turnbull. I hear he knows a thing or two about cash.

I guess the really sad part about all of this is that while Tony is running around doing dumb things in Canberra, almost all of this will be missed by the voting public. Worse still, depending on how things are reported in the media over the coming weeks and months, this particular strategy could work quite well for Tony.

Even if it isn't going to result in the best outcomes for the national interest...