Photograph: Mike Bowers for the Guardian
Tony Abbott is willing to be part of “low-key” election campaigning if asked by his colleagues but has brushed aside questions of whether he would like to get back on the frontbench after losing the prime ministership to Malcolm Turnbull.
Abbott acknowledges that he made mistakes during his leadership, telling 3AW on Thursday that “no government is perfect”. But he said he was committed to ensuring that the Coalition wins the next election.
“The events of the last year are well and truly in the past,” he said. “The important thing is for us to win the next election.”
He was willing to roll up his sleeves and help out in a practical way but only if his fellow parliamentarians thought it necessary. “Where my colleagues would like me to help in a low-key way during the campaign, I will, because I am absolutely committed to the election of the Turnbull government,” he said.
When it came to questions about his future, Abbott was circumspect. “Let’s see what happens after the election, but the question of going back into cabinet is entirely hypothetical.” He added his “purpose” was to be a good local member for constituents in his Sydney seat of Warringah.
The former prime minister took a swipe at Turnbull’s proposal to let states levy their own income tax rates to pay for schools and hospitals. “It was an idea whose time has not come and probably never will,” he said. “It’s something that has been around for a long time.
“I’m not sure this would have been one of the recommendations given when the Commission of Audit brought this forward back in March of 2014 – it wasn’t something that the government supported.
“But obviously what the prime minister was doing was having a very frank and candid conversation with the states to see how far they were prepared to go to take responsibility for those things which are theirs to run like public schools and public hospitals. Regrettably, not for the first time, they said they wanted Canberra to raise the money and for them to spend it.”
Abbott revealed that he had been asked by the New Zealand prime minister, John Key, in November 2014 to back the former Kiwi leader Helen Clark’s ’s candidacy for secretary general of the UN. Clark put her hand up for the UN top job this week, amid speculation that former Australian prime minister, Kevin Rudd, would also throw his hat in the ring.
“I was happy to say yes, because at that stage there was no Rudd candidacy,” he said. “There are still only rumours about Mr Rudd having a go.
“Of the declared candidates, I’d certainly be prepared to back Helen Clark.”
On Wednesday, the foreign minister, Julie Bishop, told reporters that cabinet had not had a conversation about backing Rudd’s candidacy, as he had not officially nominated for the position.
