Politics

Massive Gronk Tony Abbott Is Getting Absolutely Dragged For His Bob Hawke “Tribute”

Log off forever, Tony.

by Rob Stott  17 May 2019
Tony Abbott reckons Nauru is "a very pleasant island".

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As Australia mourns the loss of one of our most beloved leaders — former Prime Minister Bob Hawke, who died last night at the age of 89 — former Prime Minister Tony Abbott has offered his own deeply shitty statement.

As news broke of Hawke’s passing, many of Australia’s former leaders offered their heartfelt condolences, including Hawke’s Treasurer and successor, Paul Keating, who said the nation had suffered “an enormous loss”.

Opposition leader Bill Shorten described Hawke as “a leader of conviction”.

“With his passing, the labour movement salutes our greatest son, the Labor Party gives thanks for the life of our longest-serving Prime Minister and Australians everywhere remember and honour a man who gave so much to the country and people he cared for so deeply,” Shorten said.

“In Australian history, in Australian politics, there will always be B.H. and A.H: Before Hawke and After Hawke. After Hawke, we were a different country. A kinder, better, bigger and bolder country.”

Scott Morrison also offered his condolences on Twitter.

As did former PM Kevin Rudd.

And Julia Gillard offered a heartfelt statement.

But Of Course, Tony Abbott Couldn’t Help Himself

After describing Hawke as “Labor’s greatest Prime Minister”, Abbott tried to steal some of Hawke’s glory by claiming some of the Labor icon’s greatest achievements for the Liberal party, and taking a shot at Bill Shorten in the process.

“His key achievements – financial deregulation, tariff cuts and the beginnings of privatisation – went against the Labor grain, as Labor’s more recent policy direction shows. You might also say he had a Labor heart but a Liberal head. Certainly, the Coalition supported nearly all his big reforms, helping to make his tenure a time of economic revitalisation.”

Of course, what Abbott is saying is nonsense. We know that some of Hawke’s greatest achievements — floating the dollar, de-regulating the economy — were Labor reforms because, uh, Labor did them. And the Liberals opposed many of Labor reforms, like compulsory superannuation

After eight years of the Fraser Coalition government, which did very little in the way of economic reform, it was Hawke and Keating who passed the difficult measures that have served Australia so well through. On top of that, Hawke and Keating’s other key achievements, like the introduction of Medicare, compulsory superannuation and saving Tasmania’s Franklin River, were definitely Labor reforms, because the Liberals have spent the last four decades trying to gut Medicare, undermine superannuation, and destroy the environment.

Naturally, Abbott’s statement isn’t going down too well on Twitter.

I think we can all agree: Tony, delete your account.