Kimberley Ramplin guardian.co.uk, Friday 5 July 2013 12.18 AEST
Last week's spill has now shifted the conversation, and Abbott needs to be part of it. It's time for Dr No to say 'yes' and agree to a debate
See you next Thursday, Mr Abbott? Photograph: Orestis Panagiotou /EPA
Tony Abbott has been on a monumental sulk since September 2010. He has become Mr Rabbit, forever looking for a bolthole.
His press conferences end abruptly, without fielding questions from the assembled media. He refuses to appear on Q&A. And then there's the barely concealed taunt from Leigh Sales, fresh from grilling Rudd, that the opposition leader had been invited to join the program "to discuss his policies and plans". "Hopefully he'll be available", Sales said. Oh, Tony. How we laughed, knowing you wouldn’t be joining because you always say no.
But the change in ALP leadership has now shifted the conversation, and Abbott needs to be part of it, not snarking from the sidelines. It’s time for "Dr No" to say "yes".
Abbott’s point of refusal – that if the prime minister really wanted to debate him, he would call the election date or recall parliament – is perfectly sensible. It’s also a stunt. We get that. Who cares? Tony’s hardly stunt-shy. But here's one thing he should keep in mind: he isn't the only one who might stutter when asked about policy.
Rudd’s throwdown gave the government much-needed cover today while he zipped off to Jakarta, a trip Gillard was set to take. Rudd has, in general, credited his successor / predecessor with the policies she slogged her guts out to put in place, but he wasn’t around the budget table. He didn’t negotiate and navigate the legislation through parliament. The prime minister wants to debate policy, but his party’s policies, budget spending priorities and cuts are largely not of his making. What’s he going to talk about? The GFC? Yawn. Next. China. Resources boom over. OK … so what are you going to do, Kevin? "Well, Penny and I had a good chinwag with some business folk"?
Remember, "consultative Kevin" has promised not to announce policy without going through the Cabinet process. Abbott could have Rudd on a rotisserie with a good performance next week, highlighting the talkfests and hyperactivity of his first prime ministership on one end, the unpopular decisions and missteps of Julia Gillard at the other, leaving Rudd to talk up the one constant of both his and Gillard’s prime ministerships: Wayne Swan.
Debating Rudd at the National Press Club offers Abbott a golden opportunity to remind Australia of the PM’s penchant for big words. Rudd might rock around the place from time to time, but behind the lectern, Daggy Dad gives way to prime minister programmatic specificity. No one wants that Kevin in his or her lounge room. Free Tony, I say. I’ve never met the man, but I’m told by ALP types that in person, Abbott is charismatic and whip smart. He could bring that to the Press Club, and leave the dead-eyed shark reciting rhyming couplets behind.
As for Rudd, he is behaving like an opposition leader. He was pretty good at it, from memory. The ALP’s tactics are straight out of the Josh Lyman playbook: "I’m just the little nerd from the school library. You’re the Oxford boxer. We’ve booked the hall and set a time, be there or be square."
It looks like a gamble, but it’s not. Rudd loses nothing if Abbott is a no show because he’s not the opposition leader. He’s PM. He won’t talk to an empty lectern (MEMO TO ACTING PM ALBO: DO NOT LET RUDD TALK TO AN EMPTY LECTERN); he’ll give a speech and take the merciless piss, the journos will laugh, and it will all be on TV. Even if Rudd doesn’t speak to an empty chair (I’M SERIOUS, ALBO: NO EASTWOODING), that’s the Daily Telegraph splash."‘Heavy Kevvy’ Rudd TKO’s ‘No Ticker’ Tony". Teriffic.
Call his bluff, Tony. Your presence next week will say, "I’m here because I want to govern". Without uttering a word, you’ll show that Rudd isn’t governing, just campaigning.
See you next Thursday.
