Tony Abbott Shirtfronted By His Own Party

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott, known as one of the most hardcore antagonists against Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, was ousted from office in just one day after a Liberal Party decision ended the rule of the most unpopular Australian cabinet in three decades.

Some of the more controversial things he did on the international stage during his brief two-year premiership were threaten to “shirtfront” Vladimir Putin and politicize the MH-17 tragedy into an international tribunal. Domestically, he’s known for issuing insulting comments about women and aboriginals. It seemed that no matter how outrageous the stunt, Abbott couldn’t convince the Australians to like him more, and their distaste of his antics only grew.

Dr. Roslyn Fuller, International Law lecturer and author; Dr. Zareh Ghazarian, a lecturer in Politics at Monash University (Melbourne) and Glynn Greensmith, lecturer at the Department of Journalism at the Curtin University shared their perspective on the issue.