RObert,

In the subject quote you might notice that Julia Gillard led with, "The government is not dying of shame", which showed the lawyer fully aware of what Abbott was referring to and meant. She then used a trick of rhetoric to tag and malign, implying that Abbott was actually referring to her father, "my father did not die of shame, what the Opposition Leader should be ashamed of is his performance in parliament". A judge would have pulled her up immediately.

Abbott explained himself later and regretted if any should have taken his remark other than as worded and as used previously used by him. It would have been nice if Julia Gillard could have withdrawn her attack on the same basis.

While I agree that politicians are prone to making personal attacks, that should not prevent us from straightening out comments as they arise. I do that for all politicians as should be obvious from my posts. A lie repeated easily becomes the truth. It is only after this lie has been repeated so often on this site that I have come forward to remind of the actual words used and to challenge by proposing a more plausible interpretation.

I realise that one cannot challenge without being accused of taking sides. But that is life.

Dear R0bert,

I have little problem with your stance on the issue, it is not one I ascribe to but we are all individuals and giving people the benefit of any doubt you may have is a perfectly understandable trait. However without labelling Abbott I am keen to hear your thoughts on whether you would ever seek to bait anyone about the recent death of their parent and how would you regard someone who did just that to their face?

Finally do you think this type of behaviour, if proven beyond doubt, is grounds for disqualifying a person from the Prime ministership?

I should note that while Alan Jones' effort at the Young Liberals was in glaringly bad taste I do not think he would ever have addressed his remarks directly to the PM.

A circular argument.

csteel I can't imagine doing so unless I was very very upset at the time.

As for the rest of your questions, a lot of things should disqualify someone from that job, many of which we don't seem to take seriously. Failure to honour a commitment given during an election campaign would be higher up the list in my opinion.

R0bert

Dear R0bert,

Thank you for your considered reply.

While I can't imagine doing such a thing even if I were very, very angry I will not say I would be completely incapable of such an act given some very extreme circumstance, because I just don't know.

But here is my point. Mr Abbott was in the middle of a parliamentary debate where the rules of conduct enforce some measure of curtailed behaviour and nothing in his delivery indicated anything but a measured and calculated response.

Therefore as you do not think his use of the words was a deliberate attempt to sledge the PM you are able to let it pass. However, if like a large number of Australians, I think he was then the conclusions I have drawn about the man are valid. It was an extraordinary thing to have done and if indeed premeditated then something the both of us agree would only be excusable in the most extreme situations but totally inexcusable at any other time.

csteel, there are a lot of things our pollies do that I can't easily imagine myself doing. If Abbott was deliberately baiting the PM then it was very ugly but I don't think even that should be treated in isolation.

The vile tactics used by Abbotts opponents to play on his response to a question about the advice he would give to his daughters if they asked was in my view as bad as what you are suggesting Abbott did. If there was any strain between father and daughters that particular mud could have done real harm.

The PMs play on Abbotts seemingly honest response to a question about homosexuals was also very dirty. Its a very ugly game they play, both sides play it to a level that I think harms our society. Likewise I think the tactic if prtenting your own side is innocent and overplaying the failings of the other side is dirty and does harm to our nation. Its a downward spiral that will just keep getting worse and worse until people ar willing to choose differently.

I don't particularly like Abbott, the dirty tactics he used on Pauline Hanson put me off, I didn't much like Hanson either but she was speaking for a part of society that feels cut out. Rather than dirty tricks thoughtful and honest responses to their concerns might have gone a long way to helping heal rather than create even deeper divisions.

R0bert