 Whispers in Canberras corridors tell of a sulky Mr Abbott, still coming to terms with being dumped. He has not shown his face in Parliament since being ousted as Liberal leader on Monday night. The seat next to Queensland MP Andrew Laming in the House of Representatives was again empty today. For the second Question Time in a row Tony Abbott declined to appear as a backbencher. Mr Abbott has all but disappeared, remaining out of contact to almost everyone since he lost the leadership to Malcolm Turnbull Monday night. When the Howard Government was defeated by Kevin Rudd in 2007, Mr Abbott went into semi-seclusion and wrote his book Battlelines. Perhaps hes knocking out another now, about battles not quite won. There is no firm rule on this but Julia Gillard and Kevin Rudd both rolled up to the Labor backbench soon after they had been rolled from the leadership. Both quit after the 2013 election. Mr Abbott appears to be following a lead set by former Labor prime minister Paul Keating, who didnt return to the House after losing to John Howard in 1996. Rudd stayed on and wreaked his revenge and that didnt really work out either.
Expected more balls from an ex-boxer, but we know Tonee was a bit "punch-drunk" towards the end, so this is no surprise. Maybe he is having a drink with his friend Oakeshott somewhere?
