Given that Abbott has been hiding so far since his demise as a PM, I don't think he will stay on the backbench. I woulldn't if I was him.

Then again, he may well want to remain in parliament just to cause some disquiet amongst those former disciples of his who readily jumped ship last week.
Even though he finally did come out the next day and say he wouldn't cause any trouble for the Libs, just his being there in person would be enough.

It is too hard a decision to call I think Foxy!

I agree it is too hard a decision to call.

The man is so difficult to read.

I began to think that he suffered from a mild form
of epilepsy after watching his performance in front
of the press a few times where he was being asked
questions and he'd keep nodding his head well past
the normal time and didn't answer the journalist.
I used to think - he's had a fit - he's temporarily
blanked out for a few seconds. Then when the question
was asked again - he'd reply - to the surprised
journalist - "I've answered your question."
He hadn't.

Anyway, I was beginning to feel sorry for the man -
until I read Poirot's link taken from the Daily
Telegraph no less - that Mr Abbott had gone topless
at a wild party in the PM's Ministerial Suite with
his staffers (and Joe Hockey) after he'd been dumped
in place of Malcolm Turnbull. Apparently they all
partied up until 4.30am - and danced and carried on.
Smashing a marble table and collecting the shards
as momentos. MPs were vomiting - and the scene was
really something.

And here I was thinking the man would be all alone and
suffering. Silly me.

He faxed his resignation to the Governor General.
Which was unheard of.
He did not turn up in Parliament at all. Yet Mr Rudd,
Julia Gillard, and even Bronwyn Bishop all did
and faced the music. He gave a
speech many hours after the event. He did not congratulate
Mr Turnbull - and still hasn't.

That goes deeply to the character of this man.
No grace, no dignity. And he does in not way accept
responsibility for his own demise.

So who knows what he's capable of in the future.
A gracious loser he certainly is not!

Abbott, will sit on the backbench, at least until the next election. He still believed he is Australia's political "Messiah" and he's right, and everybody else is wrong. Abbott firmly believes in his ability, and has taken his dumping as simply an aberration, given time they will beg him to come back.
Fat chance!

The forums 'Usual Suspects' have gone to ground on this, leaving Butch to push the line that Abbott's demise, and Turnbull's ascendancy is simply nothing more than a changing of the guard, run of the mill, normal Liberal Party politics, business as usual. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Before the 2013 election I said Australia needed a dose of Abbott and his brand of conservatism, call it Abbottism, there were plenty in the Liberal Party at the time ready to go along with Tone and his crazy brand of conservatism! The reason i wanted Abbott for PM, was not that I believed Abbott and his cronies would be a success, I fully expected them to fail miserably, and indeed they have, beyond my wildest expectations, did not even last one term. After the failures of Labor, Australians needed to be reminded of how bad extreme conservatism (by our standards) can be. The blind faith some on here put in an Abbott government has proven to be totally unfounded.
Possibly, many of the forums arch conservatives are simply shell shocked at the rapid demise of their beloved Abbott and his marvelous government, and it has galvanized them into silence on the subject. I think equally they have a severe problem with Turnbull and his particular brand of conservatism. Instead of cheering from rafters, after all Turnbull is almost guaranteed success at the next election, it would take a stuff up of Abbott proportions to see Turnbull booted. Here is the rub, the extreme right, including those on this forum, can't stomach the Turnbull brand, and as one said, "at the next election I'll be voting informal." Boohoo fellas, fess up you got it wrong, and Abbott was a total failure. The best you can hope for now is to see the remnants of the Abbott rump, that have wormed their way in with Turnbull, one way or the other, exercise some influence on policy. We could discuss the merits, or lack of, of the new Turnbull regime, but give them time.

Finally; PO Joe, good to see you go!

Isn’t it a change to wake up in the morning and not find a new catastrophe waiting for everyone. To much of this and things will seem normal.

What a change of Ministers, can it all come together. A lot will depend on the liberal voters that were disappointed at the Abbott debacles. No doubt there will be a shift in the business supporters as well. Abbott’s blocking of media laws needs to be untangled.

No more Captains picks, and no more underhanded Abbott agenda’s, that we are not allowed to know about.

Turnbull needs to get investments rolling to pull us out of abbotafobia recession.

If liberal voters don’t like Turnbull they can always support the greens. That is a worthy cause. Lets not ever delve into Conservatism again.

Interesting days ahead, David Marr said this today about 'Faction Man' Willie Shorten,

"Shorten is now more vulnerable than ever to the fundamental charge the Coalition levels against him: that this is the man who brought down two prime ministers and lied about it on radio.

It’s going to get dirty. At the heart of the contest will be Shorten’s character. All the way to polling day, Australians will be invited to rake over every detail of his short life and hidden career"

The Emily's Listers left over from the Gillard government must be champing at the bit to knacker Willie and install another of their own. The war of the factions is to come.