The Tony Abbott-led government should have done a better job at laying the groundwork for big reforms before it released its first federal budget, the father of the house, Philip Ruddock, said on Thursday.
Ruddock, who is the special envoy for citizenship, told reporters in Canberra the prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, is proving himself to be a good communicator.
He would not be drawn on whether former prime minister Abbott’s style contributed to his downfall, saying: “Everybody has a different style, don’t they?
“The point that I make is that you need to be able to argue your case, and I think that Malcolm is demonstrating the capacity to be able to do some of the things that you need to be able to do, and I think that’s a good thing,” he said.
Ruddock is the parliament’s longest currently serving member, and the second-longest serving member in history. He said he has seen leadership challenges in the past, but in this case members of the government need to fall into line and “move on”.
He said the Abbott-led government could have done a better job of selling its policies.
“You can’t sell a crop till you’ve tilled the soil, and in my view, if you want to bring Australians with you when you are making very important changes you need to have them understand that there is a problem that needs to be addressed,” Ruddock said.
“With hindsight, when you look back, some explanation may have been better for our first budget. We know the reason it didn’t happen: because there were state elections. I understand that. But it doesn’t diminish my view that in public life, difficult decisions sometimes have to be taken, and if you have to make difficult decisions, it’s important to bring people with you,” he said.
On Wednesday, Abbott told News Corp publications he would stay in parliament on the backbench, following Monday’s spill which saw him lose the Liberal leadership to Turnbull by ten votes.
The man tipped to be treasurer, Scott Morrison, would not comment on his political future.
“What the prime minister elects to do is a matter for him. I’ve always sought to conduct myself in a way that lets my performance be my advocate,” he said. “The same focus I’ve applied in past roles, I’ll apply to whatever future role the prime minister now has me to serve him.”
Labor has been downplaying polls which have given the Coalition a bounce since it installed Turnbull.
“Frankly I think if a drover’s dog, to put not too fine a point on it, had replaced Mr Abbott – whoever replaced Mr Abbott was going to get a lift in the polls,” the opposition leader, Bill Shorten, told reporters on Thursday.
Earlier, during an interview with ABC radio, Shorten said even some of the most rightwing members of the party would have been more popular than the previous prime minister.
“I think if Cory Bernardi had replaced Tony Abbott, there would have been a bounce in the polls,” he said.
