Shalailah Medhora Thursday 29 January
Prime minister’s move to award a knighthood to Prince Philip was ‘pathetically stupid’ and threatens his leadership, says conservative commentator
Tony Abbott has made a ‘friendless decision’, says Andrew Bolt. Photograph: Wayne King/AAP
Tony Abbott’s decision to grant a knighthood to Prince Philip “verges on fatal” for his leadership, the conservative commentator Andrew Bolt has said.
Bolt told Macquarie Radio on Wednesday night he was “flabbergasted” by the knighthood decision.
“This is just such a pathetically stupid – gosh, I didn’t mean to be that strong because I actually like Tony Abbott very much – but this is just such a very, very, very stupid decision, so damaging that it could be fatal,” Bolt said. “I thought it was verging on fatal already but this is too much.
“This is a friendless decision, where his friends would feel stupid defending it,” he said.
A Channel Seven ReachTel poll showed more than seven out of 10 Australians opposed the knighthood decision.
The survey of nearly 3,700 people found only 12.1% supported the move to honour the British monarch, which Abbott announced on Australia Day.
A total of 71.5% of those surveyed opposed the move. More than half of those who listed themselves as Coalition voters thought the knighthood was a bad idea.
Abbott polled behind both Malcolm Turnbull and Julie Bishop as preferred Liberal leader. Only 18% backed Abbott, against nearly 45% for Turnbull and 30.5% for Bishop.
Nearly 62% of respondents said Abbott’s performance as prime minister was poor or very poor. Just under 22% said it was good or very good, and the remainder said they were satisfied with his performance.
The Liberal backbencher Dan Tehan welcomed Abbott’s promise to consult more, and said there was room for the Coalition as a whole to lift its game.
“The buck stops with all of us and we shouldn’t forget that. I mean, the performance of the government, we are a team. We are a party,” Tehan told the ABC.
Voters were not exactly sold on Bill Shorten, either. Just over 27% said Shorten’s performance as Labor leader was good or very good. More than 38% said his performance was poor or very poor, and nearly 36% were satisfied.
The knighthood decision has sparked a barrage of criticism levelled at both Abbott and his chief of staff, Peta Credlin.
Abbott’s mentor, the former prime minister John Howard, relayed concerns from the party room about Credlin’s influence in decision-making, Fairfax Media reported.
On Wednesday the News Corp chief Rupert Murdoch called for Credlin to “do her patriotic duty” and resign as chief of staff.
The parliamentary secretary Alan Tudge said criticisms of Credlin and Abbott were a distraction. “People aren’t concerned with the internal machinations of the prime minister’s office,” he said.
The finance minister, Mathias Cormann, told ABC radio on Thursday morning the prime minister had “learned his lesson” on not consulting the cabinet about the knighthood decision.
He downplayed growing calls for Abbott to be replaced as leader. “The prime minister enjoys the strong support of his party room. He enjoys my very strong and unequivocal support,” Cormann said. “He is the best person to lead the Liberal party, to lead our country.”
