Deposed Prime Minister Tony Abbott has broken his silence in a reflective media conference today.
Abbott pledged not to leak or background against colleagues and to make the process of transition from power “as easy as I can”.
“It is humbling to lose, but that does not compare to the honour of being asked to lead,” Abbott said, addressing the media and his staff from the Prime Minister’s courtyard in Parliament House.
“This is not an easy day for many people in this building.
“My pledge today is to make this change as easy as I can.
“There will be no wrecking, no undermining and no sniping.
“I’ve never leaked or backgrounded against anyone, and I’m certainly not going to start now.
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“This is a tough day, but when you join the game, you accept the rules.”
Abbott criticised Australia’s “febrile media culture” which “rewards treachery” and urged the media to refuse to publish “self-serving claims” made by unnamed sources.
He said: “We have more polls and more commentary than before: mostly, sour, bitter character assessment”.
He said that the state of global affairs would not be “helped if the leadership instability that’a plagued other countries continued (in Australia)”.
Abbott said he still had much left that he wanted to achieve in office, but said he was proud of his service.
“There’s much that I had still wanted to do (including) constitutional recognition of indigenous people.
“Then there is the challenge of ice and domestic violence, yet to be addressed.
“I’m proud of what we’ve achieved over the last two years.”
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Abbott nominated the negotiation of three free trade agreements, more than 300,000 jobs created and the removal of “Labor’s bad taxes” among his key achievements in office.
“The boats have stopped, and with the boats stopped, we’ve been better able to display our compassion to refugees.
“Being the Prime Minister is not an end in itself; it’s about the people you serve.
“I thank my family.
“I thank my party for the privilege of leading it…
“I thank my staff … especially my chief of staff, who has been unfairly maligned.
“The great privilege that I have had is to see the wonder of this country like few others.
“My love for this country is as strong as ever, and may God bless this great Commonwealth.”
Malcolm Turnbull defeated Abbott 54 votes to 44 in a Liberal party room meeting last night.
He is expected to visit the Governor-General to officially become Prime Minister this afternoon.
Abbott has reportedly been placed next to Andrew Laming in the House of Representatives seating plan. Laming was one of the people who called on him to resign in February.
Abbott’s calm demeanour during his press conference today contrasted with the emotional farewell media conferences of his predecessors – Labor’s Julia Gillard and Kevin Rudd – after both were dumped in party room coups.
AAP Image/Sam Mooy
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