I agree, Tony the Polly I don't like much...but Tony the Fire Fighter I have great respect for.

Tony Abbott is a great guy; he makes the blots, idiots, perambulating egos and other wastes of space from the left and the Greens look like blots, idiots, perambulating egos and wastes of space.

The signs are that, unlike his immediate predecessors, Abbott doesn't have a neurotic fixation on what people think of him personally or professionally, just a keen determination to get on with the job by the best and most effective means. If I'm right, and if he can keep it up, then he has the potential to be one of the great Prime Ministers.

I find it hard to believe that any rational sane person could write and believe this rubbishy article. Tony Abbott has no idea as to the depth of his responsibilities as prime minister - indeed has never seen past winning the election, and having won has little idea as to what to do next. The position of prime minister is not constitutionally defined but even so carries awesome responsibilities. To deliberately endanger himself, his minders, and at the same time increase the already onerous responsibilities of the fire fighters simply by being there - all in the name of being a 'good bloke'- is irresponsible in the extreme. Tony Abbott is a populist of the worst order, and heads a government already shaping up to be a disaster. He should concentrate on his prime ministerial responsibilities and leave 'game playing to the galleries' to someone else.

Well written. Who cares if it was a photo opportunity? (Although I believe he is just another volunteer in this case). I would prefer a PM that would at least be doing something while he raises some publicity then one that totters around in fire and flood zones side stepping anything that might be a bit too icky to step in with their expensive leather shoes. Posing shaking hands with the fireys with that "Cant wait to wash my hand" expression on their face. And a constipation smile on their face while they talk with locals. Every time I see pollys like that I think, bloody help or get outta the bloody way! That might be the country coming out a bit.

You know what would really impress me about Tony Abbott the volunteer firefighter? It would be a story about him parachuting into the inferno [currently engulfing NSW] and him fighting the fires single handed from the other side. But of course that would be a work of fiction now wouldn't it? Sadly, the true heroes, the women and men on the frontline risking their lives daily to fight this inferno are muted in the narratives accompanying Tony Abbott's pressers and photo ops.

There is a vast difference between being action man and running a country as Prime Minister.
One can admire the former in Abbot but he has yet to prove himself in the latter role.
Personally I think it is time he discarded the action man cape and began to act like a leader, our Prime Minister. Sadly I feel that may be one step too far for Tony.
We appear to have a dearth of Leaders in Australia right now, right across the spectrum of political activity.

SD

"If I'm right, and if he can keep it up, then he has the potential to be one of the great Prime Ministers".

Hardly - he gives priority to doing things that give him a buzz and so far seems to have a very peculiar notion of appropriate Prime Ministerial conduct, from gagging his 'merit selected' Ministers to being a national embarrassment in Asia with his grovelling apologies for all the offensive things he said in opposition. If he has some spare time - and as a fully engaged Prime Minister he shouldn't have much spare time at all - he could usefully spend it learning what the job entails.

As for the fire fighting, my concern is that resources will be diverted to making sure he is safe, because although he does his best to be one of the gang everyone knows who he is. I want our firies and their commanders to be able to focus on what they do best without the distraction of worrying about the Prime Minister.

are there any fellow fireys on here to respond? I can't think of one member of the fire brigade that would take him anywhere near the fires if they thought that. You are risking your life out there, the weakest man in the team is the strength of the team. If I thought he was going to get in the way or need protecting he would be told "Get Out"

What is abundantly clear is that Tony Abbott is not Prime Minister material. Put him on a bike or let him enter a surf carnival and he'll perform adequately, just like most amateurs usually do.

Of course, our Tony hasn't recalled Parliament yet, has he? Not for him standing in the glare of publicity, or being forced to answer questions and think on his feet and expose his poor command of the English language.

He would much rather prefer to be holding a fire hose rather than do that or fillet fish wearing a hair net. Tony is a bit of a mixed-up person who is unsure of who or what he should be.

He has fallen into the role of Prime Minister almost by accident. As with Gillard and Rudd, the extent of his deficiencies will soon become evident. Will Tony realize them?

Not on your Nellie! Plodders never do.

Bec, there is no suggestion that TA doesn't pull his weight as a firefighter or 'need protecting' but just because he IS Prime Minister he could distract attention from the job at hand. And I doubt if anyone is likely to tell him to get on his bike just because he is the PM.

I'd put money on his whereabouts being known at all times by the head of the RFS and for there being contingency plans to divert resources to pull him out of trouble if necessary. How many ordinary firies get that sort of attention?

".... Sadly, the true heroes, the women and men on the frontline risking their lives daily to fight this inferno are muted in the narratives accompanying Tony Abbott's pressers and photo ops."

Tony Abbott is a serial self-promoter.

There is something cringe-worthy about a bloke who breezes in for a photo-op, drive a truck or to watch a back-burn, attaching his own reputation to the bravery and hard work of those who are fighting fires in hellish conditions on the front lines.

Yes, Tony is to be congratulated for his past 10 years as a volunteer firey, but his job is now supposed to be as a full time PM.

He needs to get on with throwing himself into the PM job, rather than pushing himself into the fire front and in danger of getting in the way.

He needs to stop the boats (already stopping naturally with the coming cyclone season) , get rid of the carbon tax, and give all those women top maternity leave payments...like he promised he would.

I am sure that such a tough action man can handle all the negative comments about him anyway, as it is absolutely mild in comparison to the vitriol levelled at Gillard for merely being female, let alone any private pursuits she may have had.

Well I guess GYM-FISH would prefer Tony went to dinner with friends, than got out to have a look. As an experienced volunteer I'd reckon the blokes would welcome him warmly, I know the blokes on our brigade would.

Just in passing, every one I can think of in our volunteer brigade would qualify as red necks in Poirot's world. I wonder what that says?

Hasbeen,

All our worlds are different to others.
The trick is placing yourself in the world of another and seeing it through their eyes.
When it comes to those far younger than your good self appreciate there will be a time when even they will realise youth is not an incurable disease and find it has been replaced by the cure, usually known as wisdom.
For most this takes some time.

SD

Hasbeen - with due respect to your actions as a volunteer, I would rather see the firies fight the fires as they are trained to do, and the Prime Minister govern the country via the constituted parliamentary process as he has pledged to do. We all have to have dinner sometimes.

The usual suspects for drive-bys have provided examples by their own behaviour. That is lack of insight for you.

Some people are just plain downright mean and nasty.

Their problem.

Their self-imposed limitations in getting along with others and enjoying life.

'Nuff said.

This article has caused me to remember some important things. I'm not an Abbott lover either but I agree we need to separate out Abbott the PM and Abbott the human being. I remember the pain of people's default position of distrust in all you do and all you say. Some will be quick to respond that we have plenty of evidence for that position in relation to politicians but I know from an inside perspective that it is often not the case. And so I congratulate Abbott the human being for his service as a volunteer fire fighter.
It's also a good reminder that human beings are complex and no-one is all spin or all publicity stunt. I wonder how it would change our culture if we had default positions of trust rather than mistrust? We might get taken in more often but maybe that's not as bad as a paranoid suspicion that causes us to see the world in such negative terms.
David Wilson.

That is the point GYM-FISH, Tony has been doing it for 10 years, un heralded or promoted, & is trained.

He is also governing better than the last couple. In a month he had cut the boats dramatically, something the other 2 could not do in 6 years.

You are right of course Shaggy Dog, the only problem there is are we still fit enough apply all that wisdom, by the time we have acquired it.

One of the great sorrows of my life is, by the time I had accumulated the knowledge & the skills to be a master of sex, I was too damn old to apply it at all regularly.

I am given to understand that Tony Abbott has been volunteering in various capacities for many years. He has observed that it keeps him grounded. Doubtless he also has a sense of community service.

No doubt the nasty serial drive-by artists will also find a snipe in that, but who cares? For it is their own deficiencies they lay bare in doing so. That doesn't matter either, their choice and because behaviour generalises they must live with the inevitable outcomes of their outlook on life, soon and long.

Three points ...

Firstly. Sorry, Mishka, but no amount of firefighting daring-do will ever make up for Abbott's trainwreck of a paid parental leave policy. I'm as feminist as the next feminist - a whole lot more so as OLO readers would well know - but I draw the line at the taxpayer lining the pockets of uber-paid female executives who take time off to breed, while other much more needy unemployed single mums and welfare recipients are treated as Centrelink scum.

Secondly. I don't know why we can't have a major disaster in this country without turning it into a mawkish ego-fest about heroes and fair go's and what it means to be Australian and blah-de-blah-de-blah. I haven't seen the Abbott photo-op, but I'm sure he looks as suitably faux-exhausted, charcoal-faced and heroic as only the best public relations firm can muster.

Thirdly. Abbott the Maggot? Haven't heard that one. Gross!

Killarney,

"I haven't seen the Abbott photo-op, but I'm sure he looks as suitably faux-exhausted, charcoal-faced and heroic as only the best public relations firm can muster."

Nope

He's usually in a truck smiling out the window.

Or he's standing next to fellow fireys smiling.

I did see one of him all decked out walking with some fellow firefighters...with Peta Credlin pacing a few metres behind (just to keep him in check)

I haven't seen any photographic evidence of him having been "in the thick of things"...certainly not charcoal-faced, nor exhausted.

If it had been Rudd, he would have had 3 make up artists suitably charcoaling his face, & making his fetching forelock appear genteelly damp with imitation sweet, just for you Poirot.

Oh & he would have sworn at them, not smiled. Definitely not smiled at them, he only did that at TV cameras

Poirot

Fair enough. I would have checked out the photos first, but to actually go looking for photos of Tony Abbott comes hard to me. I'm more used to avoiding having them shoved at me ad nauseum every day of my life.

However, I like my 'faux-exhausted, charcoal-faced and heroic' PR version better.

Killarney,

"However, I like my 'faux-exhausted, charcoal-faced and heroic' PR version better."

If I'd seen him looking like he'd actually been in the fray, I wouldn't be so critical.

You have a short memory, Hasbeen: Rudd spent time wading through receding flood waters in his electorate carrying stuff and got cut on the leg and ended up in hospital.

Abbott needs to do very little to look like a champion compared to what the Labour/Greens dished up. What with emily's listers, unionist and independants pooping on their electorate its no wonder he looks so good. You can tell by the whiners who criticise him how good he actually is. Already reducing the boats drastically, getting rid of idiotic taxes. Fancy doing what he said. No wonder his mockers hate him so much. They prefer sleazy deals, lies and broken promises and then sprout about great legacies (unfunded promises)

runner,

Hee, hee....."....They prefer sleazy deals, lies and broken promises and then sprout about great legacies..."

No wonder I'm finding myself hugely entertained lately with all the rorts, backflips, lies and hypocrisy abounding in the Coalition camp, it's hard to keep up.

Glad to see you approve so fulsomely.

: )

You petty dipsticks. Abbot for whatever he may be has been a member of the Volunteer Firefighters for many years so get of his back and keep your spite for each other.
Incidentally I haven't seen any of our Muslim brothers on the fire front or South East Asians either. Perhaps they just hang around to pick up the scraps.

Bet you're not a firey, chrisgaff - they are good blokes not racist trolls like you.

Candide,
Actually I used to run a Headquarters Brigade out of Bowral in NSW and I have 2 sons fighting fires at the moment.
As for being a racist well you get a few runs on the board for that guess. I spent quite a few years on the right end of a m16A4 dealing with problems that now seek to take over my country but that's another story.
I guess when they line the racists up against the non-racists there won't be many brother lovers left to clutter up history.

Chris,

Before you go and paint Tones as such a jolly good fellow....you might like to keep in mind that his govt has just set about screwing the victims of the recent fires.

http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/nsw-bushfire-victims-denied-compensation-under-new-rules-20131026-2w80f.html

Regarding your racist slur:

http://www.canberratimes.com.au/act-news/iranian-refugee-firefighter-giving-back-to-a-sunburnt-country-20131023-2w235.html

"Mr Shirinia said he was working with an experienced and supportive crew, so while he was sometimes fearful, he never felt his life was in danger. He has put his hand up to return to the fires this Friday. ''I really wanted to do something to help other people. I know life is a very short period and one of the things that gives meaning to our lives is helping each other,'' he said."

Thanks for the odium, Chris....however, my advice is to take a few lessons from Mr Shirinia about common decency and humanity.

His attitude puts yours to shame.

Poirot,
One or two Muslims on the fireline does not cover for the rest of them. Just an aboration I would think. I wonder whose side he will be on when his brother devouts start cutting down the infidels?
You can peddle that crap about people being swindled out of compensation all you want but it doesn't wash.
Anybody who needs compensation gets it. All they have to do is prove they have no money of their own. A simple task
No money gets paid. Got money use your own.

Chris,

From the article:

"The day after bushfires tore through the area, the federal government tightened the rules for disaster payments leaving hundreds of residents who were forced to evacuate without any financial help.

Eligibility for payments, available in disasters such as the January Tasmanian fires, were changed on October 18, so residents who did not lose their homes but had to relocate for days at a time would not receive assistance."

"Under the previous rules, residents who were injured or killed, lost their house, had to leave their home for 24 hours or were without a utility for 48 hours received a one-off payment of $1000 for an adult and $400 for a child.

But the day after the bushfires started, the Justice Minister Michael Keenan signed a new determination which only applied to people who were seriously injured, killed or had their homes destroyed or severely damaged by the fires."

The day after the bushfires started....

So while Tones is strutting around getting photographed, his minions are cutting eligibility for help.

Regarding your bigotry.....well, it's just that.

Poirot,

"Under the previous rules, residents who were injured or killed, lost their house, had to leave their home for 24 hours or were without a utility for 48 hours received a one-off payment of $1000 for an adult and $400 for a child."

Under the previous rules (previous government that is).
Obviously it hasn't got home to you that this is a new government and not a socialistic politically motivated benevolent society.

There are plenty of Charities out there handing out whatever is needed and getting money of the taxpayer to do it.

Giving taxpayers cash away for the sake of votes doesn't wash mate.

There are thousands of homeless people in any city suffering the same hardships in the streets. Do you think they also qualify under your rules.

I was the disaster co-ordinater in the Tully Heads fiasco mate and even there Telstra was handing out free mobile phones while the Red Cross handed out free fuel cards.

Nobody misses out.

I also put hundreds of scammers before the courts for claiming $1000 relief payments in the Yasi cyclone.

You really need it you get it.

Chris,

You write:

"Under the previous rules (previous government that is).
Obviously it hasn't got home to you that this is a new government and not a socialistic politically motivated benevolent society.

There are plenty of Charities out there handing out whatever is needed and getting money of the taxpayer to do it.

Giving taxpayers cash away for the sake of votes doesn't wash mate.

There are thousands of homeless people in any city suffering the same hardships in the streets. Do you think they also qualify under your rules."

...........

You appear to have changed your tune - as when you were attempting to laud this govt's response to the bushfires, you posted this to Belly:

"Belly,
This is the stuff of leadership. Read it and understand that he really cares. I only hope he gets the army involved and the mass of unemployed dole bludgers as well.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/18/nsw-bushfires-tony-abbott-says-canberra-will-pay-half-cost-of-rebuilding
Posted by chrisgaff1000, Friday, 18 October 2013 10:02:01 PM"

Headline reads:

"NSW bushfires: Tony Abbott says Canberra will pay half cost of rebuilding

Prime minister pays tribute to 'ordinary people who, on an extraordinary day, come together to support their community'"

"Speaking after a briefing at the Winmalee fire station on Friday afternoon, the prime minister confirmed the standard disaster relief arrangements would apply in NSW, with Canberra “picking up at least 50% of the tab”.

Additional resources will also be available to the community through Centrelink, including a call centre for people affected by the fires."

..........

So those "additional resources" dried up fairly quickly for some who would have been eligible - the "day after the bushfires" the govt cuts the eligibility criteria.

And you wax lyrical about "benevolent societies" and "Giving taxpayers cash away for the sake of votes doesn't wash mate."

So your " Read it and understand that he really cares."

Loses some of its profundity in the wash-up.

Chris,

Will also add that when you say:

"Giving taxpayers cash away for the sake of votes doesn't wash mate."

I'm reduced to a laughing wreck...keeping in mind that we are talking about contemporary Australian politicians who pork-barrel as a matter of course.

Why else would Tones have spruiked ad nauseam before the election that he was ditching the carbon tax "but keeping the compensation"? if not to give taxpayer's cash away for the sake of votes?

Why keep the compensation if there's no carbon tax?

Sounds a bit irresponsible for the new fiscally responsible govt who, btw have just bequeathed (and intend to borrow) $8.8 billion dollars to the RBA for no good reason...(No wonder they lifted the debt ceiling by around $100 billion more than is forseeably required)

I think they might be charlatans - what say you?

Poirot,
Perhaps it is time for all you armchair critics to spell out exactly what you want any government to do together with where the money to do it should come from.

Chris,

I'll make one more comment off topic for the sake of explaining why I constantly deride this govt.

Do you remember before the election, the constant refrains of the LNP regarding the so-called "budget emergency"?

Apparently the Labor government (according to the then Opposition) had run up debt which had to be addressed at all costs.

Since the Coalition's election win, Joe Hockey has ignored the "budget emergency", talked up the AAA rating as the thing that really matters (something he conveniently ignored while in Opposition) and pronounced "We are in good shape."

On qanda tonight, the issue of Hockey's $200 billion hike in the debt ceiling was raised.

Guess what Christopher Pyne said?

He defended it by announcing that it would be jolly useful for paying for infrastructure promised by the LNP before the election.

So much for fiscal responsibility, etc...

Even though one shouldn't be surprised by pollies lying, we should question it when a government is elected on the strength of "blanket" misrepresentation of its intentions an agenda.

Poirot,
All very well but just what and how do you want to see happen, regardless of what side of the blanket you lie on.
What are the answers?

Chris,

Keeping in mind that we shouldn't persist in derailing this thread.

Last word.

I support a robust social democracy.