Voters sick of whinging minor parties: Abbott

Former prime minister Tony Abbott has lashed out at the minor parties and claimed Australian voters are sick of small-time politicians criticising the government rather than coming up with their own solution. 

Speaking to Ray Hadley on 2GB, Abbott said the Greens’ stunning loss at the South Australia’s election at the weekend was proof Aussies are turning away from minor parties in favour of  the big players in the Labor and Liberal parties.

“Well, there is no doubt that people are waking up to minor parties,” Abbott said bluntly. “Minor parties are much better at articulating grievance than they are at offering a solution.”

He accused the parties of failing to offer solutions to major problems, despite often raising issues in the first place. “They only thrive by criticising others,” he continued. “They don’t thrive by coming forward with their own solutions.”

Abbott said he was glad the Greens lost and that a “stale and tired” Labor government was no longer in power in South Australia, throwing his support behind Liberal Steven Marshall, who was sworn in as Premier of the state on Monday.

“In the end, what we still need is strong and stable government in this country and at the federal level, as I keep saying, that means scaling back immigration until infrastructure, housing starts and integration have caught up,” he added. “It means no more subsidised renewables and the difficulty at the moment is that there is not a sharp enough distinction between the federal government and the federal opposition.”

During the interview, Abbott also said he thought it was Labor’s favourable stance on renewable energy that cost them the South Australian election.

“I’m all in favour of doing the right thing by the planet, we’ve only got one, we’ve got to give it to our kids in good shape,” he said. “But we’ve got to face the fact that nothing Australia does, in terms of our emissions reduction, is going to make a substantial global difference … My point is yes, let’s try to get emissions down but let’s not do it in ways which cost jobs and damage industries.”

He also weighed in on the current South African farmer visa scandal that’s rocking the government. Peter Dutton caused a furore last week when he called for white South African farmers to be granted fast-tracked visas to Australia. His views were opposed by other members of the government, including foreign minister Julie Bishop who said visas were granted on merit and not skin colour. Judging by his comments to Hadley, it looks like Abbott is siding with Dutton.

“The first thing, Ray, is to acknowledge that there is a very serious situation developing in South Africa,” Abbott said, noting that 400 white farmers have been murdered over the past 12 months. “If the boot was on the other foot, we’d call it racism of the worst sort. I think we should acknowledge this as a very, very serious issue of justice and fairness and freedom for people who are trying to do the right thing, feed their country, and I think Peter Dutton was absolutely right to say under our humanitarian immigration program, there ought to be a place for people who are being persecuted this way.”

What do you think of Tony Abbott’s comments? Is he right, or should he stop speaking on political issues?