Australian elections: Tony Abbott’s memorable gaffes
As election day arrives in Australia, the gaffe-prone Liberal party leader Tony Abbott is favourite to become prime minister. Here are some of his most notable verbal slip-ups.
1. Suppository of all wisdom
“No one,” Tony Abbott told a Liberal party gathering in Melbourne, “however smart, however well-educated, however experienced… is the suppository of all wisdom.”
The comments were greeted a few seconds later by giggles and murmurs as the audience perhaps registered that he had intended to say “repository”.
Within the hour #suppository was trending on Twitter and the internet was awash with photos of Abbott with suppository-inspired captions.
2. Sex appeal
Another own goal for Abbott was when he highlighted one of his party’s candidates as having “sex appeal”.
“They’re young, feisty, I think I can probably say have a bit of sex appeal, and they’re just very connected with the local area,” he said, comparing Liberal candidate Fiona Scott with former MP Jackie Kelly.
As the words left his mouth, his daughter Frances, standing to his right, appeared to cringe.
His political opponents seized on the comment, claiming that Mr Abbott was stuck in the past.
Labor frontbencher Kim Carr, said: “Sometimes we should think Tony Abbott really hasn’t crawled out of the 1950s.”
Mr Abbott later defended his comments, blaming his exuberance. For his critics the episode has particular resonance seen against the backdrop of former Australian PM Julia Gillard’s attack on Mr Abbott, when she called him a misogynist.
3. Housewives’ favourite?
In the same speech, Ms Gillard referred to another incident that Mr Abbott would probably prefer to forget. During a visit to a dry cleaning business Mr Abbott, was reported to have said that the cost of an emissions trading scheme would hit “housewives” who used electricity to iron.
This incident, along with other accusations by Gillard, and Mr Abbott’s views on abortion, have provided grist to the mill for his political critics concerned about his old-fasioned attitude to women.
4. S*** happens
In 2011, following the death of Lance Corporal Jared MacKinney in Afghanistan, Mr Abbott met with Australian soldiers serving in the war-torn country. Responding to their explanations about events leading up to the soldier’s death, Mr Abbott appeared to say “S*** happens”. He was accused of making light of a soldier’s death.
An interview after the comments was broadcast was equally as memorable, when he responded to a question with a 28-second silence, leading the interviewer to remark: “You’re not saying anything Tony” – proving that a politician can make a gaffe even without opening his mouth.
5. Not bad-looking daughters
Tony Abbott describes his two daughters, Frances and Bridget, as “my best assets”. And in a recorded election message to the Australian Big Brother house, his daughters featured prominently alongside him.
But it appears that he may have learnt from his much-criticised “sex appeal” comments the previous month, which prompted his daughters to warn him not to have any more “Daddy sort of moments”.
So his prime-time reality TV election pitch was relatively understated: “If you wanna know who to vote for, I’m the guy with the not bad-looking daughters,” he told the housemates.