But Tony will speak to FRIENDS.
On the occasion of the 70th anniversary dinner for the Institute of Public Affairs (IPA) Tony Abbott addressed a group of friends. While we were not the intended audience, the text of his speech is very instructive… not least for the fact that as it is written down we can assume that there is a great deal of truth to what he says.
The full speech is available here.
Many have suggested (and still do) that Abbott’s Catholicism heavily informs his political ideas. This is what he said to the IPA:
In the Garden of Eden that Adam and Eve could do almost as they pleased but freedom turned out to have its limits and its abuses, as this foundational story makes only too clear. Yet without freedom we can hardly be human; hardly be worthy of creation in the image of God.
Abbott believes in the primacy of that biblical story, but all Australians don't.. and I doubt that even a significant majority do. But maybe it's just a useful analogy... or maybe not.
When speaking of what he saw as the most important elements of contemporary Australian culture Abbott cited:
the Western canon, the literature, the poetry, the music, the history and above all the faith without which our culture and our civilisation are unimaginable.
Faith... above all else?
Abbott doesn’t name the ‘Australian Faith’, but it seems likely that he seeks to speak on behalf of many who don’t share his Christian beliefs.
Of special guest and American citizen Rupert Murdoch, Abbott said:
Rupert Murdoch is a corporate citizen of many countries, but above all else, he’s one of us. Most especially, tonight, he’s a long-serving director of the IPA.
He added:
John Howard has said that Rupert Murdoch has been by far Australia’s most influential international businessman; but I would like to go a little further. Along with Sir John Monash, the Commander of the First AIF which saved Paris and helped to win the First World War, and Lord Florey a one-time provost of my old Oxford College, the co-inventor of penicillin that literally saved millions of lives, Rupert Murdoch is probably the Australian who has most shaped the world through the 45 million newspapers that News Corp sells each week and the one billion subscribers to News-linked programming.
Many have claimed that Murdoch publications are seeking to be opinion leaders, that they are giving preferential treatment to those politicians and parties with whom their share political beliefs, and that they are seeking to frame the public debate in ways that preference their interests.. and it seems Abbott agrees.
But Abbott doesn't stop by praising Rupert (and Gina Reinhart). He goes on to praise the Director of the IPA, John Roskam. It appears that the IPA has delivered Abbott and the Coalition their entire policy platform. It came in the form of a Roskam report that Abbott described as:
your urgent advice to me in the IPA Review last August
And from that urgent advice Abbott has confirmed the following (to Roskam):
and I want to assure you that the Coalition will indeed repeal the carbon tax, abolish the Department of Climate Change, abolish the Clean Energy Fund. We will repeal Section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act, at least in its current form. We will abolish new health and environmental bureaucracies. We will deliver $1 billion in red tape savings every year. We will develop northern Australia. We will repeal the mining tax. We will create a one stop shop for environmental approvals. We will privatise Medibank Private. We will trim the public service and we will stop throwing good money after bad on the NBN.
Roskam asked and Abbott plans to deliver. To see the 75 recommendations of the IPA, follow this link (it's extreme stuff). Abbott’s praise for the IPA's radical ideas is generous but comes with a word of (religious) warning:
John, you’ve done very well with just 20 staff – but remember what Jesus of Nazareth did with just 12 and one of them turned out to be a rat!
But not a warning that their recommendations are too extreme.
In Conclusion Abbott said:
So, ladies and gentlemen, this is a special night. This is a night to renew our commitment, to renew our faith. In a hundred years’ time, all of us will be gone but, please God, not the ideals and the great causes for which we stand.
What can we conclude from Abbott’s ‘written down’ remarks?
1. His Catholicism deeply informs his political thoughts. If he became our Head of State… the separation of Church and State on which our Democracy would be indiscernible.
2. The IPA is the policy unit of the Liberal party, and a first term of a Liberal government would be following their blueprint almost to the letter.
3. Rupert and Abbott are very close… personally and politically
That all sounds dangerous to me. But full marks to Tony... he's finally told us where he stands and what he stands for.