The transformation of Tony Abbott from a social conservative to security commentator has been stark. In his 2009 book Battlelines he offered a bare 4-5 pages of perfunctory defence of the Howard Government’s actions in Iraq and Afghanistan. In office, however, a portrait emerged of a man who ‘sits for much of the day…pondering national security, Islamic State and reading Winston Churchill’.
Like Churchill in the wilderness, Abbott has spent his time out of office with a pen in hand, this time writing an essay for Quadrant magazine titled ‘I Was Right on National Security’. Quite what Abbott thinks he is …read more