shadowminister,

Abbott's profession as a lawyer matches the type of person he is.

I think lawyers are low-lifes more interested in getting rich than helping people. I know that's a stereotype but I think most would agree that it applies to up to 95% of lawyers.

What's this I hear about Abbott commenting on aged-care deaths from the WuFlu?

To Shadow Minister- Thanks for the coherent comments. Getting into a job is not the same as doing well in a job I guess. I'm sure that Tony Abbott had many distractions when he was studying at Oxford. The British consider Australian's perhaps to be a little unrefined and so maybe this relates to the view that Tony Abbott wasn't the sharpest knife in the drawer- perhaps the communists used this to discredit him.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Abbott

graduated with a Bachelor of Economics (BEc) in 1979 and a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) in 1981 from the University of Sydney. He resided at St John's College and was president of the Student Representative Council. Influenced by his chaplain at St Ignatius', Father Emmet Costello, he then attended The Queen's College, Oxford, as a Rhodes Scholar, where in June 1983 he graduated as a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE) and on 21 October 1989 proceeded by seniority to Master of Arts.

During his university days, Abbott gained media attention for political opposition to the then dominant left-wing student leadership. Once he was violently beaten at a university conference. A student newspaper editor with political views opposed to those of Abbott took him to court for indecent assault after he touched her during a student debate; the charges were dismissed by the court. According to the Sun-Herald newspaper, it was "an ugly and often violent time", and Abbott's tactics in student politics were like "an aggressive terrier". Abbott organised rallies in support of Governor-General John Kerr after he dismissed the Whitlam Government in November 1975, as well as a pro-Falklands War demonstration during his time at Oxford. ..taught and influenced by the Jesuits. At university, he encountered B. A. Santamaria, a Catholic layman who led a movement against Communism within the Australian labour movement in the 1950s, culminating in the 1955 Labor Party split and the formation of the Democratic Labor Party.

As revealed by various websites - Tony Abbott certainly
was no intellectual star at Oxford. His marks show he gained
a 2:2 known to students of his era as a "Desmond". By
contrast David Cameron who along with many other future
politicians also did a PPE ( politics, philosophy, economics)
gained a "First". The articles also show Abbott had to take
8 exams for his finals - two in philosophy and six in politics.
He was exempt from economics having studied that at Sydney
university.

Abbott was not eh best student at Oxford university as a
Rhodes scholar scoring B's and C's. He only just made the
grades. This is available on various websites. Plus the
fact that his close friend Dyson Heydon was on the
selection committee that awarded Tony Abbott the Rhodes
Scholarship in 1980s. (Abbott later appointed Heydon to
a Royal Commissioner's job).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhodes_Scholarship

Selection criteria

In his will, Rhodes specified that he did not want his scholarships to go to "merely bookworms." He wanted candidates assessed in regard to:

his literary and scholastic attainments
his fondness of and success in manly outdoor sports such as cricket, football and the like
his qualities of manhood, truth, courage, devotion to duty, sympathy for the protection of the weak, kindliness, unselfishness, and fellowship
his exhibition during school days of moral force of character and of instincts to lead and to take an interest in his schoolmates for those latter attributes will be likely in after-life to guide him to esteem the performance of public duty as his highest aim

To assess candidates, Rhodes specified a 200-point scale, unequally applied to each of the four areas (3/10 to each of the first and third areas, 2/10 to each of the other two areas). The first area was to be judged by examination, the second and third by ballot from the candidate's fellow students, and the fourth by the headmaster of the candidate's school. The results for each candidate would be sent to the trustees of Rhodes's will, or their appointees, who would then give a final assessment by averaging the marks for each candidate.

Here's just one link on Mr Abbott and his stint at
Oxford. There's plenty of others on the web from
various other sources:

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/nov/25/tony-abbott-just-about-makes-grade-as-rhodes-scholar

Of course - The Guardian - is part of the "Leftie"gutter press
and should not be believed. Just as it's totally unfair to
question the appropriateness of a former Australian Prime Minister
in a senior trade role now negotiating for the benefit of
another nation. That is totally unfair - considering how
brilliant the man was at his job. Not "gaffe prone"at all.
And extremely popular with great hands-on experience
of negotiating trade agreements -
and a clear concept of the importance of Britain's
trade with the EU.