Senior correspondent Barry Everingham is calling time on Tony Abbott.
Tony Abbott really should be a postman — every time he opens his mouth he pushes the envelope just that little bit further.
But he just may have gone too far this time — the rumblings of those behind him in the Liberal Party are increasing and one of them is reported to have said: the bloke is out of control.
Abbott’s negativity has worried some of the moderates but his over-the-top political speech in the Parliament in the presence of the President of the United States was typical of the Opposition Leader — it was a disgrace.
The sort of stuff that spews out of Abbott’s mouth is better left to the likes of Barnaby Joyce — the Senate’s clown in residence.
My distinguished colleague Mungo McCallum famously said of Joyce: he is the only so-called economist who has to drop his trousers so he can count to 21!
In John Howard’s most bizarre days of crawling to George W Bush, he only went too far on one occasion — before the election that swept Obama into the presidency, when he disgracefully said that putting Obama into the top job in the United States would make Osama bin Laden a happy man!
Abbott must know he’s in trouble when The Australian’s Dennis Shanahan drops a not too subtle comment on Friday’s online edition.
I didn’t think the day would come when I would congratulate Julie Bishop for having a leadership style.
Her performance on Lateline this week was nothing short of stellar — none of her leader’s negativity and hyperbole.
The 1972 tag line which got rid of years of Liberal rule might well be dusted off by the progressive section of the Liberal Party who want Abbott out.
It was called It’s Time.
