He was Prime Minister of Australia between 2013 and 2015 before being replaced by current PM Malcolm Turnbull as leader of the Liberal Party, but now Tony Abbott has hinted he wants to make a return to The Lodge and win back the top job.
Speaking to 2GB on Monday, the 60-year-old representative for Warringah said being demoted to the back benches has allowed him to “speak his mind”, and revealed he won’t be calling time on his political career anytime soon, describing public service as his “real calling”.
The backbencher told presenter Mark Levy: “One of the plusses of being on the back bench is that I can speak my mind. As long as the Party and the people of Warringah want me, I can see myself staying for quite some time because I’m just 60, I think I’m a young 60. Look at Trump, he was 71 when he was sworn in.
“Sure, I guess it’s unusual for a Former prime minister to come back, you could really only come back if you were drafted by your party. But let’s just see how things work out.”
Levy then asked the former PM if he would consider a move into the private sector, to which Abbott replied: “Look, I’ve never been someone who’s motivated by money, I think it’s a bad thing if money drives you.
“Most people don’t understand Mark, public life it’s not a job, it’s not even a career, it’s more a calling. If you’ve got the calling, you stay there for as long as you’re making what you think is a useful contribution. And I certainly think I’m making a useful contribution now.”
Abbott also said that Labor should think carefully before they consider a change of leadership, following a string of negative polls for current leader Bill Shorten, including a Newspoll published by The Australian on Monday which revealed support for Shorten has dwindled off the back of his tax cuts flip on Friday.
He said: “You can easily make a bad situation worse by changing leaders. You can easily generate such transaction costs that you go backwards, not forwards.
“I’m not a big fan of running around assassinating the leader.”
Abbott replaced Turnbull as leader of the Liberal Party of Australia in December 2009 and went on to become prime minister in 2013, after the Liberal/National coalition defeated Kevin Rudd’s incumbent Labor government. However, just two years after winning the election Abbott lost his position as leader of the Liberals when Turnbull, then Minister for Communications, resigned and stated his intention to challenge the Liberal Party leadership, defeating Abbott by 54 votes to 44.