Tony Abbott surprised everyone this year by eating a raw onion in Tasmania, but perhaps we should have been more cynical – he may have been practising for this moment for some years.
The ABC has unearthed footage of the Australian prime minister that appears to show he’s got form, munching on what looks like an unusually large spring onion in Queensland in 2011.
He looks much more tentative this time around, hinting this may have been his first time. He grimaces slightly yet crunches down, while four men look on. Hand in pocket, he takes the acidic pain in his stride, sealing his credentials as the then opposition leader.
Yet his work in 2011 is not a patch on 2015. In comes a much more confident – prime ministerial even – Abbott, who bites into a raw onion. He eyes are open and his face is calm. He wastes no time. He knows what to expect.
At the time Bernard Keane, political editor of the website Crikey, tweeted: “OK he ate a raw onion. OK. I think I actually respect Abbott more now.”
If the reaction to the prime minister’s consumption of unlikely raw vegetables can be taken as a barometer of his popularity, then the news is not good.
The reaction this time to the emergence of this multi-layered leader who leaves a sour taste in the mouths of many was more grudging, with seamless links made to the main issue of the day as well as the naming controversy of whether the vegetable in question should be called a shallot or a spring onion.
We'll determine what kind of onion it is with a plebiscite.
— ABC News Intern (@ABCnewsIntern) August 12, 2015
I'd like to be Australian, where a leadership crisis involves eating a raw onion, instead of dropping two atomic bombs or something
— Honkey Kong (@Bro_Pair) August 12, 2015
