Should Tony Abbott Be Forced To Resign?

chops_a_must · 31 October 2007

Abbott ends tough day with 'bull****' rebuke

Federal Health Minister Tony Abbott has been caught swearing at his Labor opponent Nicola Roxon.

Mr Abbott arrived half-an-hour late for his National Press Club debate on health, capping off an already difficult day on which he had to apologise to asbestosis sufferer Bernie Banton and defer the start of his Mersey Hospital takeover in Tasmania.

"I thought if our timetables held, it would be possible to be here in time for the live telecast," Mr Abbott said.

"Unfortunately when you're making public announcements, when you've got lots of announcements from journalists at those public announcements, timetables get put out and that's why I was late."

Posing for photographs with Ms Roxon at the end of the debate, the pair got into a testy exchange.

Ms Roxon told the Minister he could have made it on time if he had wanted to. Mr Abbott replied: "That's bull****. You're being deliberately unpleasant."

Mr Abbott apologised several times for his delayed arrival from Melbourne adding that "this has been a big day for apologising for me".

He called Mr Banton this morning to apologise but denied he was told to do so by Prime Minister John Howard.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/10/31/2077872.htm

You can also view a video of the slur via the link above.

Well, the question is simple. Should Tony Abbott be forced to resign as minister for Health and Ageing, if the Coalition do or do not win office again?

On what has been a disastrous day for him, albeit self inflicted, Abbott managed to cap it off with a totally inappropriate and abusive comment towards his counterpart.

This follows recent admissions, and evidence of his total incompetence as a minister. These include admitting that federal funding of the health system to be decreasing in comparison to the states over the last 11 years. More recently, the fiasco with the Tasmanian hospital takeover; slanderous remarks towards Bernie Banton, the asbestosis campaigner. And of course, nearly not turning up to the Health debate.

This especially, demonstrates the total contempt with which Abbott treats the voting public, and of course the seriousness (or lack thereof) in which he regards his job. All from a good Christian man... apparently.

So is it time for him to go?

I'd say with the total inappropriateness of his actions, behaviour of the lowest order, especially as a minister, plus his attitude towards his role, the answer should be a resounding yes.

Stan 101 · 31 October 2007

For today's actions? No... Haven't you ever had a bad day and said things you wished you didn't and acted in a way you shouldn't?

For his history in parliament, we will all know soon enough if people want him.

cheers,

Duckman#72 · 31 October 2007

chops_a_must said:
So is it time for him to go?

I'd say with the total inappropriateness of his actions, behaviour of the lowest order, especially as a minister, plus his attitude towards his role, the answer should be a resounding yes.

Get real Chops !!!!

If we start getting politicans to resign on the basis of inappropriate actions, behaviour of the lowest order and poor attitude we'd have half of them cleared out.

If you want to dump a minister/shadow minister for poor performance over the past 6 months - try Turnbull and Garrett. I thought Turnbull was bad but Garrett has single handedly put the spring back in to the Coalition step. They are both finding the step up in grade very difficult. Kudos to Howard for finding and exposing the weakness in the climate change fraudsters.

Duckman

roland · 31 October 2007

I have noticed that there is certainly a shift towards arrogance amonst our Liberal leaders, and it is not helping their cause for re-election. It is interesting to see how often Mr Abbott likes to talk out of portfolio and is often question by the media to present comments on parts of the Government that he probably shouldn't.

The performance of a lot of our politicians on both sides of the fence is very disappointing, I've seen used cars sales people do a better job on the spin jobs.

Labour have an easy job of bagging the Liberals for current and future problems and situations because they have nothing to answer for. The Liberals are blessed with a mining boom that have filled government coffers full of cash.

Funny how Howard and Costello take full credit for the RIO's, BHP's and others good fortunes.

We are in vote grabbing stage, where promises and future spending sprees abound - a billion here, a billion there, my billion plus another billion on top of yours. It is so tiring.

I don't care who gets into Government, it's not going to make a lot of difference to me. I'll just sit here and buy on red, sell on green, hold on amber - the silly worm won't stop me from making a buck

CanOz · 31 October 2007

Wheres the option for "could not give a toss"?

shinobi346 · 31 October 2007

What he said was a bit rough but he used it in context so no, he shouldnt. Personally I think the behaviour of some politicians during question time to be much worse than Tony Abbot's choice of words today and they've still holding their jobs.

imajica · 31 October 2007

The man is a genetic/industrial hybrid - a tawny frogmouth crossed with a wingnut! He is a repulsive hypocrite - as slimy as you can get - although I must say, all politicians are tarnished with the same brush. All they do is mindlessly recite party rhetoric - it used to be interesting when there was some sort of ideological division between the two parties !

1234 · 31 October 2007

I would have said more than that too her!!.

Good on him for restraining himself.

We need more honesty.

arminius · 31 October 2007

today wasnt much, but he should resign for being tony abbott. he is an A grade twit.

weird · 31 October 2007

lol, well to all the negative posters, I say that is all bullsh1t ...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Abbott

"In July 2007 Abbot gained attention after swearing once on a national TV interview and repeating the phrase when asked about the incident by journalists the next day. After renewed controversy over John Howard's alleged broken promise to hand over the Liberal leadership position to Peter Costello, Abbot said to an interview: "not to put too fine a point on it, **** happens, Tony." When asked if he regretted it he smiled and repeated "**** happens", garnering some laughs from the journalists"

2020hindsight · 31 October 2007

resign? - why?
I reckon he'll get his chance (and soon) to learn some humility

weird · 31 October 2007

Perhaps we all will, if I understand your post.

hangseng · 31 October 2007

chops_a_must said:
You can also view a video of the slur via the link above.

Well, the question is simple. Should Tony Abbott be forced to resign as minister for Health and Ageing, if the Coalition do or do not win office again?

On what has been a disastrous day for him, albeit self inflicted, Abbott managed to cap it off with a totally inappropriate and abusive comment towards his counterpart.

This follows recent admissions, and evidence of his total incompetence as a minister. These include admitting that federal funding of the health system to be decreasing in comparison to the states over the last 11 years. More recently, the fiasco with the Tasmanian hospital takeover; slanderous remarks towards Bernie Banton, the asbestosis campaigner. And of course, nearly not turning up to the Health debate.

This especially, demonstrates the total contempt with which Abbott treats the voting public, and of course the seriousness (or lack thereof) in which he regards his job. All from a good Christian man... apparently.

So is it time for him to go?

I'd say with the total inappropriateness of his actions, behaviour of the lowest order, especially as a minister, plus his attitude towards his role, the answer should be a resounding yes.

After watching Rudds recent public gaff (and he is supposed to be our next PM), it seems interesting you focus on something like this.

Rudd without a scripted cheat sheet is lost and he has publicly demonstrated this. A leader he is not.

Flying Fish · 31 October 2007

Who cares. They are all twits, on both sides. The amount of money spent trying to better there causes is a joke. I see signs posted on the street, tv adverts, websites letters in the mails. SHOOT the lot of em and all the jokers that make money out of elections.

chops_a_must · 31 October 2007

hangseng said:
After watching Rudds recent public gaff (and he is supposed to be our next PM), it seems interesting you focus on something like this.

And what gaff was that?

MS+Tradesim · 31 October 2007

While I have no special like for Abbott, personally I would trust and respect LESS a man who gets drunk overseas and ends up in a strip club....yet it appears everyone wants him to be PM. This country is headed for a disaster.

Scuba · 31 October 2007

Flying Fish said:
Who cares. They are all twits, on both sides. The amount of money spent trying to better there causes is a joke. I see signs posted on the street, tv adverts, websites letters in the mails. SHOOT the lot of em and all the jokers that make money out of elections.

Agreed, or like a farmer mate of mine says, "Ya wouldn't feed em'would ya?"

Mind you, I can't help but say the words Brendan, Nelson, Superhornet and billions

hangseng · 31 October 2007

MS+Tradesim said:
While I have no special like for Abbott, personally I would trust and respect LESS a man who gets drunk overseas and ends up in a strip club....yet it appears everyone wants him to be PM. This country is headed for a disaster.

Oh so true, I agree wholeheartedly.

Rudd without a script to read from is lost, completely floundered.

weird · 31 October 2007

Gaff ? I thought Rudd just annouced the highest results from public opinion polls ... sort of like Australian Idol results except the singers are replaced by policy or current stance on something ...

Scuba · 31 October 2007

MS+Tradesim said:
While I have no special like for Abbott, personally I would trust and respect LESS a man who gets drunk overseas and ends up in a strip club....yet it appears everyone wants him to be PM. This country is headed for a disaster.

Obviously you can't remember Malcolm Fraser's trouser incident... As for strip clubs, look at the guy, can you spell dweeb? He more than likely did call his wife and say that he felt really hung-over, vaguely recalled being in a strip club and went off to church directly after the call and said 25 Hail Marys!
When was the last time we had a P.M. who was at least bi-lingual?

Should Tony Abbott Be Forced To Resign?