Tony Abbott has been forced to apologise for accusing Labor of creating a “holocaust” in defence industry jobs, has accused the Human Rights Commission of conducting a politicised “stitch-up” and has read out in parliament the previously secret inflammatory text of an alleged terrorist’s video as the strain began to show at the end of a disastrous week for the Coalition.
Under fire for allegedly changing plans to award a $20bn submarine tender to Japan in order to win the votes of backbenchers in the shipbuilding state of South Australia, an angry prime minister accused Labor of delaying a decision on the contract and overseeing “a holocaust of jobs in defence industries”.
After question time Abbott apologised.
“In answering one of numerous questions about submarines, I should not have used the term holocaust. I did withdraw it. I shouldn’t have used it … [but] whatever happens with our future submarine contract, there will be more jobs for South Australians. That’s the bottom line,” he said.
But Abbott remained determined in his trenchant criticism of the Human Rights Commission for its critical report into children in detention, ruling out the idea of a royal commission and instead attacking the messenger, suggesting the report was a “transparent stitch-up” and a “blatantly partisan exercise” for which the commission “should be ashamed”.
Former Liberal prime minister Malcolm Fraser labelling Abbott’s response to the report “a disgrace ... based on a lie” and accused the government of bullying the report’s author, Gillian Triggs.
Fraser, who was the prime minister when the first cohort of modern-day unauthorised boat arrivals, from Vietnam, arrived in Australia between 1976 and 1981, said the current government had chosen a policy it knew would cause harm to children.
“If the Australian government worked with our regional neighbours and the UNHCR, to process people humanely in offshore detention centres in Malaysia or Indonesia, then there would be no market for people smugglers. Refugees would be flown to their final destination. This is not supposition or hearsay. This was the policy model adopted during the exodus of refugees fleeing Indochina following the Vietnam War. It would work again,” he said.
“Australians needs to understand that this government has chosen an inhumane path when a compassionate path was available to it.”
Abbott also read out to parliament the graphic threats in a video seized from the home of two Sydney men arrested this week on terrorism charges, in which they allegedly pledged to begin “stabbing the kidneys and striking the necks” of the enemies of Islamic State. A Sydney court was told the video would not be played until a bail hearing next month.
After 39 colleagues effectively voted no confidence in the prime minister on Monday, the government has struggled to regain its footing or offer a coherent narrative – trying to offer the calming message of a return to “good government” but also ramping up increasingly virulent political attacks.
It has also had contradictory messages on the budget, with the treasurer, Joe Hockey, insisting existing, stalled, budget policies were the only way the budget could return to surplus while the prime minister put preconditions on them which strongly suggested they would be ditched.
Australia’s unemployment rate rose to its highest level for 13 years in January, to 6.4%, figures released on Thursday showed.
With colleagues backgrounding that he should be ditched as treasurer, Hockey has continued to argue that the government needs to address the budget deficit as an urgent problem. But the prime minister said on Thursday the childcare policy to be unveiled within weeks would involve “more government spending” and that any budget improvement would not take money from households but would be due to restraint in new government spending.
Liberal MPs and senators leave for their electorates desperately concerned that the government has not been able to find its feet after Monday’s leadership spill.
