title: Tony Abbott

text: Following the 1998 election, Abbott was appointed Minister for Employment Services in the second Howard ministry. He was promoted to cabinet in 2001 as Minister for Employment, Workplace Relations and Small Business. In 2003, Abbott became Minister for Health and Ageing, retaining this position until the defeat of the Howard Government at the 2007 election. Initially serving in the shadow cabinets of Brendan Nelson and then Malcolm Turnbull, Abbott resigned from the front bench in November 2009, in protest against Turnbull's support for the Rudd Government's proposed Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS). Forcing a leadership ballot on the subject, Abbott narrowly defeated Turnbull to become the party's leader and leader of the opposition. Abbott led the Liberal-National Coalition to the 2010 federal election, which resulted in a hung parliament, and an eventual victory for the Australian Labor Party (ALP). Abbott remained leader, and led the Coalition to a landslide victory at the 2013 election.


title: Tony Abbott

text: After assuming office, the Abbott government implemented Operation Sovereign Borders in an effort to halt illegal maritime arrivals. It abolished several reforms enacted by the preceding government, including the Minerals Resource Rent Tax and Australia's carbon pricing scheme. His government aimed to rein in a federal budget deficit that reached A$48.5 billion by June 2014, and established the National Commission of Audit to advise on restoring the federal budget to surplus. Abbott instituted the Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance and Corruption; founded the Medical Research Future Fund; and produced white papers on developing Northern Australia and the Agricultural Competitiveness. In international affairs, Abbott concluded free trade agreements with China, Japan and South Korea. He challenged the Russian president Vladimir Putin over Russia's actions in Ukraine and over the shooting down of Malaysian Flight MH17 in Ukraine. He committed Australian forces to the battle against ISIS during the Syrian conflict, and agreed to resettle an additional 12,000 refugees from the region. He launched the New Colombo Plan to encourage educational exchange with the Indo-Pacific region. Domestically, Abbott campaigned for recognition of Indigenous Australians in the Australian Constitution, and promised a plebiscite on the issue of same-sex marriage.


title: Tony Abbott

text: Abbott's "budget repair" measures proved unpopular, with his government's austere 2014 budget being widely criticised. Due to Abbott's poor opinion polling and personal unpopularity, he was defeated by rival Malcolm Turnbull in a September 2015 leadership spill, and replaced as prime minister. He remained in the Parliament as a backbencher, until he lost his seat of Warringah to independent candidate Zali Steggall at the 2019 federal election. In September 2020, he was named an adviser to the British government's Board of Trade.<ref name="https://www.gov.uk/government/groups/board-of-trade#advisers-to-the-board-september-2020"></ref> Abbott continues to contribute to international public debate as a writer, public speaker and advocate for conservative causes.


title: Tony Abbott

text: Abbott was born on 4 November 1957 at the General Lying-In Hospital in Lambeth, London, England. He is the oldest of four children born to Fay (née Peters; b. 1933) and Richard Henry "Dick" Abbott (1924–2017). He has three younger sisters, including Christine Forster, who has also been involved in politics. His mother was born in Sydney, while his father was born in Newcastle upon Tyne, England.


title: Tony Abbott

text: In 1940, during World War II, 16-year-old Dick Abbott came to Australia with his British parents. Dick was called up to the Royal Australian Air Force in 1942. Dick and his mother returned to the United Kingdom in 1954 where he met and married Fay Peters, a dietitian.


title: Tony Abbott

text: On 7 September 1960, Abbott, his parents, and younger sister Jane, left the UK for Australia on the Assisted Passage Migration Scheme ship SS "Oronsay". Settling in Sydney, the family first lived in the suburb of Bronte and later moved to Chatswood. Dick Abbott established what was to become one of the largest orthodontics practices in Australia, retiring in 2002.


title: Tony Abbott

text: Abbott attended primary school at St Aloysius' College at Milson's Point, before completing his secondary school education at St Ignatius' College, Riverview, both Jesuit schools. During his time at St Ignatius' College, one was his teachers was John Kennedy, who would later go on to serve as the member for Hawthorn. He 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.


title: Tony Abbott

text: 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. At St. Ignatius College, Abbott had been 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. Santamaria has been described as Abbott's "political hero". He wrote the foreword to a novelisation of Santamaria's life written by Alan Reid, and in 2015 launched a biography of Santamaria written by Gerard Henderson. In 1977, Abbott faced charges of common and indecent assault after allegedly groping trainee teacher Helen Wilson while she was making a speech at the Kuring-gai College of Advanced Education in Sydney. Abbott pleaded not guilty, and the charges were ultimately dropped.


title: Tony Abbott

text: Abbott was a student boxer, earning two Blues for boxing while at Oxford. He was a heavyweight with modest height and reach.


title: Tony Abbott

text: When Abbott was a student, on one occasion he rescued a child who had been pulled out into the sea by the current. On another occasion, while drinking at a pub, he helped rescue children from the burning house next door. On both of these occasions, he left the scene after the rescues and did not wait to be thanked.


title: Tony Abbott

text: Following his time in Britain, Abbott returned to Australia and told his family of his intention to join the priesthood. In 1984 at the age of 26, he entered St Patrick's Seminary, Manly. Abbott did not complete his studies at the seminary, leaving the institution in 1987. Interviewed before the 2013 election, Abbott said of his time as a trainee priest: "The Jesuits had helped to instil in me this thought that our calling in life was to be, to use the phrase: 'a man for others'. And I thought then that the best way in which I could be a 'man for others' was to become a priest. I discovered pretty soon that I was a bit of a square peg in a round hole … eventually working out that, I'm afraid, I just didn't have what it took to be an effective priest."


title: Tony Abbott

text: Abbott worked in journalism, briefly ran a concrete plant, and began to get involved in national politics. Throughout his time as a student and seminarian, he was writing articles for newspapers and magazines—first for "Honi Soit" (the University of Sydney student newspaper) and later "The Catholic Weekly" and national publications such as "The Bulletin". He eventually became a journalist and wrote for "The Australian".


title: Tony Abbott

text: At birth, Abbott was a British citizen by birth in the UK and by descent from his British-born father. He did not hold Australian citizenship from birth, as at the time Australian citizenship by descent could only be acquired from the father. Abbott became a naturalised Australian citizen on 26 June 1981, apparently so as to become eligible for a Rhodes scholarship. On 12 October 1993, he renounced his British citizenship to be eligible to run for parliament under section 44 of the constitution.


title: Tony Abbott

text: Abbott began his public life when he was employed as a journalist for "The Bulletin", an influential news magazine, and later for "The Australian" newspaper. While deciding his future career path, Abbott developed friendships with senior figures in the New South Wales Labor Party, and was encouraged by Bob Carr, as well as Johno Johnson, to join the Labor Party and run for office. Abbott felt uncomfortable with the role of unions within the party, however, and wrote in his biography that he felt Labor "just wasn't the party for me." For a time he worked as a plant manager for Pioneer Concrete before becoming press secretary to Liberal Leader John Hewson from 1990 to 1993, helping to develop the Fightback! policy.


title: Tony Abbott

text: Prime Minister John Howard wrote in his autobiography that Abbott considered working on his staff before accepting the position with "The Bulletin", and it was on Howard's recommendation that Hewson engaged Abbott. According to Howard, he and Abbott established a good rapport, but Hewson and Abbott fell out shortly before the 1993 election, and Abbott ended up in search of work following the re-election of the Keating Government. He was approached to head Australians for Constitutional Monarchy (ACM), the main group organising support for the maintenance of the Monarchy in Australia amidst the Keating Government's campaign for a change to a republic. Abbott renounced his British citizenship in 1993. Between 1993 and 1994, Abbott served as Executive Director of ACM. According to biographer Michael Duffy, Abbott's involvement with ACM "strengthened his relationship with John Howard, who in 1994 suggested he seek pre-selection for a by-election in the seat of Warringah". Howard provided a glowing reference and Abbott won pre-selection for the safe Liberal seat.


title: Tony Abbott

text: Despite his conservative leanings, Abbott acknowledged he voted for Labor in the 1988 NSW state election as he thought that "Barrie Unsworth was the best deal Premier that New South Wales had ever had". Nevertheless, Abbott then clarified that he has never voted for Labor in a federal election.


title: Tony Abbott

text: Abbott won Liberal preselection for the federal Division of Warringah by-election in March 1994 following the resignation of Michael MacKellar. He easily held the safe Liberal seat in the Liberals' traditional Northern Beaches heartland, suffering a swing of only 1 percentage point in the primary vote. He easily won the seat in his own right at the 1996 general election. Before 2019, he only dropped below 59 percent of the two-party vote once, in 2001; that year independent Peter Macdonald, the former member for the state seat of Manly, held Abbott to only 55 percent.


title: Tony Abbott

text: Abbott served as the parliamentary secretary to the Minister for Employment, Education, Training and Youth Affairs (1996–1998), Minister for Employment Services (1998–2001), Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations and Small Business (2001), Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations (2001–03) and Minister for Health and Ageing from 2003 to November 2007. From early 2002 to October 2007, he was also the Leader of the House in the House of Representatives.


title: Tony Abbott

text: In 1998, Abbott established a trust fund called "Australians for Honest Politics Trust" to help bankroll civil court cases against the One Nation Party and its leader Pauline Hanson. Prime Minister John Howard denied any knowledge of existence of such a fund. Abbott was also accused of offering funds to One Nation dissident Terry Sharples to support his court battle against the party. However, Howard defended the honesty of Abbott in this matter. Abbott conceded that the political threat One Nation posed to the Howard Government was "a very big factor" in his decision to pursue the legal attack, but he also claimed to be acting "in Australia's national interest". Howard also defended Abbott's actions saying "It's the job of the Liberal Party to politically attack other parties – there's nothing wrong with that."


title: Tony Abbott

text: As a Parliamentary Secretary, Abbott oversaw the establishment of the "Green Corps" program which involved young people in environmental restoration work. As Minister for Employment Services, he oversaw the implementation of the Job Network and was responsible for the government's Work for the Dole scheme. He also commissioned the Cole Royal Commission into "thuggery and rorts" in the construction industry and created the Office of the Australian Building and Construction Commissioner in response and to lift productivity.


title: Tony Abbott

text: The Liberal Party allowed members a free choice in the 1999 republic referendum. Abbott was one of the leading voices within the party campaigning for the successful "No" vote, pitting him against future parliamentary colleague and leading republican Malcolm Turnbull.


title: Tony Abbott

text: When Abbott was promoted to the Cabinet in 1998, Prime Minister Howard described him as an effective performer with an endearing style, whereas the Opposition described him as a "bomb thrower." Howard appointed Abbott to replace Kay Patterson as Minister for Health in 2003, during a period of contentious Medicare reform and a crisis in Medical indemnity Insurance, in which the price of insurance was forcing doctors out of practice. The Australian Medical Association was threatening to pull out all Australian doctors. Abbott worked with the states to address the crisis and keep the system running.


title: Tony Abbott

text: Health care initiatives instigated by Abbott include the Nurse Family Partnership, a long term scheme aimed at improving conditions for indigenous youth by improving mother-child relationships. The scheme was successful in reducing child abuse and improving school retention rates.


title: Tony Abbott

text: In 2005, Abbott was holidaying with his family in Bali when the Bali bombings occurred. Abbott visited the victims of the bombings in hospital, and in his capacity as Health Minister organised for Australians who required lifesaving emergency surgery and hospitalisation to be flown to Singapore.


title: Tony Abbott

text: In 2006, Abbott controversially opposed access to the abortion drug RU486, and the Parliament voted to strip Health Ministers of the power to regulate this area of policy. During this time, Abbott likened the act of having an abortion to committing a murder, saying "we have a bizarre double standard, a bizarre double standard in this country where someone who kills a pregnant woman's baby is guilty of murder but a woman who aborts an unborn baby is simply exercising choice".


title: Tony Abbott

text: Abbott introduced the Medicare Safety Net to cap the annual out-of-pocket costs of Medicare cardholders to a maximum amount. In 2007, he attracted criticism over long delays in funding for cancer diagnostic equipment (PET scanners).


title: Tony Abbott

text: According to "Sydney Morning Herald's" political editor, Peter Hartcher, before the defeat of the Howard Government at the 2007 election, Abbott had opposed the government's centrepiece WorkChoices industrial relations deregulation reform in Cabinet, on the basis that the legislation exceeded the government's mandate, was harsh on workers, and was politically dangerous to the government. John Howard wrote in his 2010 autobiography that Abbott was "never a zealot about pursuing industrial relations changes" and expressed "concern about making too many changes" during Cabinet's discussion of WorkChoices.


title: Tony Abbott

text: Abbott campaigned as Minister for Health at the 2007 election. On 31 October, he apologised for saying "just because a person is sick doesn't mean that he is necessarily pure of heart in all things", after Bernie Banton, an asbestos campaigner and terminal mesothelioma sufferer, complained that Abbott was unavailable to collect a petition. In "The Australian Doctor"'s 2015 poll, Tony Abbott was ranked as the third "worst health minister in 35 years", as voted on by doctors. Peter Dutton was ranked the overall worst.


title: Tony Abbott

text: The Coalition lost government in 2007 and Abbott was re-elected to the seat of Warringah with a 1.8% swing toward the Labor Party. Following Peter Costello's rejection of the leadership of the Parliamentary Liberal Party, Abbott nominated for the position of party leader, along with Malcolm Turnbull and Brendan Nelson. After canvassing the support of his colleagues, Abbott decided to withdraw his nomination. He seemingly did not have the numbers, noting that he was "obviously very closely identified with the outgoing prime minister." He said he would not rule out contesting the leadership at some time in the future. Of the three candidates, Abbott was the only one who had previous experience in Opposition. Nelson was elected Liberal leader in December 2007 and Abbott was assigned the Shadow Portfolio of Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs. As indigenous affairs spokesman, Abbott said that it had been a mistake for the Howard Government not to offer a national apology to the Stolen Generations; spent time teaching at remote Aboriginal communities; and argued for the Rudd Government to continue the Northern Territory National Emergency Response which restricted alcohol and introduced conditional welfare in certain Aboriginal communities.


title: Tony Abbott

text: During this period in Opposition, Abbott wrote "Battlelines", a biography and reflection on the Howard Government, and potential future policy direction for the Liberal Party. In the book, Abbott said that in certain aspects the Australian Federation was "dysfunctional" and in need of repair. He recommended the establishment of local hospital and school boards to manage health and education, and discussed family law reform, multiculturalism, climate change, and international relations. The book received a favourable review from former Labor Party speech writer Bob Ellis and "The Australian" described it as "read almost universally as Abbott's intellectual application for the party's leadership after the Turnbull experiment".


title: Tony Abbott

text: The number of unauthorised immigrant arrivals in boats to Australia increased during 2008. Abbott claimed that this was an effect of the Rudd Government's easing of border protection laws and accused Kevin Rudd of ineptitude and hypocrisy on the issue of unauthorised immigrants upon boats arriving, particularly during the Oceanic Viking affair of October 2009, saying, "John Howard found a problem and created a solution. Kevin Rudd found a solution and has now created a problem".


title: Tony Abbott

text: During November 2009, Abbott resigned from shadow ministerial responsibilities due to the Liberal Party's position on the Rudd Government's Emissions trading Scheme (ETS), leading to the resignation of other shadow ministers.


title: Tony Abbott

text: On 1 December 2009, Abbott was elected to the position of Leader of the Liberal Party of Australia over Turnbull and Shadow Treasurer Joe Hockey. Abbott proposed blocking the government's ETS in the Senate whereas Turnbull sought to amend the bill which the majority of the Liberal Party did not support. Abbott named his Shadow Cabinet on 8 December 2009.


title: Tony Abbott

text: Abbott described Prime Minister Rudd's Emission Trading plan as a 'Great big tax on everything' and opposed it. The Coalition and minor parties voted against the government's ETS legislation in the Senate and the legislation was rejected. Abbott announced a new Coalition policy on carbon emission reduction in February, which committed the Coalition to a 5 per cent reduction in emissions by 2020. Abbott proposed the creation of an 'emissions reduction fund' to provide 'direct' incentives to industry and farmers to reduce carbon emissions. In April, Rudd announced that plans for the introduction his ETS would be delayed until 2013.


title: Tony Abbott

text: When appointed to the Liberal leadership, Abbott's Catholicism and moral beliefs became subjects of repeated media questioning. Various commentators suggested that his traditionalist views would polarise female voters. He told press gallery journalist Laurie Oakes that he did not do doorstop interviews in front of church but regularly faced pointed questions about his faith which were not being put to Prime Minister Rudd, who conducted weekly church door press conferences following his attendances at Anglican services.


title: Tony Abbott

text: Abbott reportedly missed the 2009 vote on the Rudd Government $42 billion stimulus package because he fell asleep in his parliamentary office after a night of drinking. When asked by a journalist whether he had been drunk, Abbott said "that is an impertinent question" and that he "wasn't keeping count" but thought it was "maybe two" bottles of wine.


title: Tony Abbott

text: In a "60 Minutes" interview aired on 7 March 2010, Abbott was asked: "Homosexuality? How do you feel about that?". He replied: "I'd probably feel a bit threatened … it's a fact of life and I try to treat people as people and not put them in pigeonholes." In later interviews Abbott apologised for the remark. In 2013, Abbott stated on 3AW that if his sister Christine Forster were to have a marriage ceremony with her partner Virginia he would attend.


title: Tony Abbott

text: In March 2010, Abbott, announced a new policy initiative to provide for six months paid parental leave, funded by an increase in corporate tax by 1.7 percentage points on all taxable company income above $5 million. Business groups and the government opposed the plan, however it won support from the Australian Greens.


title: Tony Abbott

text: While Opposition Spokesman for Indigenous Affairs, Abbott spent time in remote Cape York Aboriginal communities as a teacher, organised through prominent indigenous activist Noel Pearson. Abbott repeatedly spoke of his admiration for Pearson, and in March 2010, introduced the "Wild Rivers (Environmental Management) Bill" to Parliament in support of Pearson's campaign to overturn the Queensland government's "Wild Rivers" legislation. Abbott and Pearson believed that the Queensland law would 'block the economic development' of indigenous land, and interfere with Aboriginal land rights.


title: Tony Abbott

text: Abbott completed an Ironman Triathlon event in March 2010 at Port Macquarie, New South Wales. In April he set out on a 9-day charity bike ride between Melbourne and Sydney, the annual Pollie Pedal, generating political debate about whether he should have committed so much time to physical fitness. Abbott described the events as an opportunity to "stop at lots of little towns along the way where people probably never see or don't very often see a federal member of Parliament."


title: Tony Abbott

text: In his first Budget reply speech as Opposition Leader, Abbott sought to portray the Rudd Government's third budget as a "tax and spend" budget and promised to fight the election on the new mining "super-profits" tax proposed by Rudd.


title: Tony Abbott

text: On 24 June 2010, Julia Gillard replaced Kevin Rudd as Australian Labor Party leader and Prime Minister. The replacement of a first-term Prime Minister was unusual in Australian political history and the Rudd-Gillard rivalry remained a vexed issue for the Gillard Government into the 2010 election and its subsequent term. On 17 July, Gillard called the 2010 federal election for 21 August. Polls in the first week gave a view that Labor would be re-elected with an increased majority, with Newspoll and an Essential poll showing a lead of 10 points (55–45) two party preferred.


title: Tony Abbott

text: The two leaders met for one official debate during the campaign. Studio audience surveys by Channel 9 and Seven Network suggested a win to Gillard. Unable to agree on further debates, the leaders went on to appear separately on stage for questioning at community fora in Sydney and Brisbane. In Sydney on 11 August, Abbott's opening statement focused on his main election messages around government debt, taxation and asylum seekers. An exit poll of the Rooty Hill RSL audience accorded Abbott victory. Gillard won the audience poll at Broncos Leagues Club meeting in Brisbane on 18 August. Abbott appeared for public questioning on the ABC's "Q&A" program on 16 August.


title: Tony Abbott

text: Labor and the Coalition each won 72 seats in the 150-seat House of Representatives, four short of the requirement for majority government, resulting in the first hung parliament since the 1940 election.


title: Tony Abbott

text: Abbott and Gillard commenced a 17-day period of negotiation with crossbenchers over who would form government. On the crossbench, four independent members, one member of the National Party of Western Australia and one member of the Australian Greens held the balance of power. Following the negotiations, Gillard formed a minority government with the support of an Australian Greens MP and three independent MPs on the basis of confidence and supply. Another independent and the WA National gave their confidence and supply support to the Coalition, resulting in Labor holding a 76–74 tally of votes on the floor of the Parliament. The Coalition finished with 49.88 percent of the two party preferred vote, obtaining a national swing of around 2.6%.


title: Tony Abbott

text: During negotiations, the Independents requested that both major parties' policies be costed by the apolitical Australian Treasury. The Coalition initially resisted the idea, citing concerns over Treasury leaks, however they eventually allowed the analysis. Treasury endorsed Labor's budget costings but projected that Coalition policies would add between $860 million and $4.5 billion to the bottom line over the next four years, rather than the $11.5 billion


title: Tony Abbott

text: projected by the Coalition. The close result was lauded by former Prime Minister John Howard, who wrote in 2010 that Abbott had shifted the dynamic of Australian politics after coming to the leadership in 2009 and "deserves hero status among Liberals".


title: Tony Abbott

text: Following the 2010 election, Abbott and his deputy, Julie Bishop, were re-elected unopposed as leaders of the Liberal Party. Abbott announced his shadow ministry on 14 September, with few changes to senior positions, but with the return of former leadership rival Malcolm Turnbull, whom he selected as Communications spokesman. Abbott announced that he wanted Turnbull to prosecute the Opposition's case against the Gillard Government's proposed expenditure on a National Broadband Network.


title: Tony Abbott

text: Following the 2010–2011 Queensland floods, Abbott opposed plans by the Gillard government to impose a "flood levy" on taxpayers to fund reconstruction efforts. Abbott said that funding should be found within the existing budget. Abbott announced a proposal for a taskforce to examine further construction of dams in Australia to deal with flood impact and food security.


title: Tony Abbott

text: In February 2011, Abbott criticised the Gillard government's handling of health reform and proposal for a 50–50 public hospitals funding arrangement with the states and territories, describing the revised Labor Party proposal as "the biggest surrender since Singapore". Although Abbott had previously stated that he considered a carbon tax the best way to set a price on carbon, he opposed Prime Minister Gillard's February 2011 announcement of a proposal for the introduction of a "carbon tax", and called on her to take the issue to an election. Abbott said that Gillard had lied to the electorate over the issue because Gillard and her Treasurer Wayne Swan had ruled out the introduction of a carbon tax in the lead up to the 2010 election.


title: Tony Abbott

text: In April 2011, Abbott proposed consultation with Indigenous people over a bipartisan Federal Government intervention in Northern Territory towns including Alice Springs, Katherine and Tennant Creek, which would cover such areas as police numbers and school attendance in an effort to address what he described as a "failed state" situation. April saw Abbott announce a $430 million policy plan to improve the employment prospects of people with serious mental health problems.


title: Tony Abbott

text: Following the first Gillard Government budget in May 2011, Abbott used his budget-reply speech to reiterate his critiques of government policy and call for an early election over the issue of a carbon tax. Rhetorically echoing Liberal party founder, Robert Menzies, Abbott addressed remarks to the "forgotten families".


title: Tony Abbott

text: In June 2011, Abbott for the first time led Gillard in a Newspoll as preferred Prime Minister. In September 2011, he announced a plan to develop an agricultural food bowl in the north of Australia by developing dams for irrigation and hydroelectricity. Coalition task force leader Andrew Robb claimed that Australia currently produced enough food for 60 million people, but that the Coalition plan could double this to 120 million people by 2040. The head of the Northern Australia Land and Water Taskforce expressed concerns about the economic and environmental viability of this plan as well as its effects on the indigenous Australian communities in northern Australia.


title: Tony Abbott

text: Reflecting on indigenous issues on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the Aboriginal Tent Embassy on Australia Day 2012, Abbott said that there had been many positive developments in indigenous affairs in recent decades including Rudd's apology and moves to include indigenous Australians in the Australian Constitution. Later that day, Abbott became the target of protesters from the "Embassy" after one of Gillard's advisers contacted a union official who advised Tent Embassy protesters of Abbott's whereabouts and misrepresented Abbott's views on Aboriginal affairs to them, saying he intended to "pull down" the embassy. A major security scare resulted, which was broadcast around the world, resulting in Gillard and Abbott being rushed to a government car amid a throng of security due to fears for their safety.


title: Tony Abbott

text: In an address to the National Press Club on 31 January 2012, Abbott outlined some of his plans for government if elected. These included an intent to live one week of every year in an indigenous Australian community, and to prune government expenditure and cut taxes. Abbott also announced "aspirational" targets for a disability insurance scheme and a subsidised dentistry program once the budget had been restored to "strong surplus".


title: Tony Abbott

text: Abbott responded to the February 2012 Labor leadership crisis by criticising the cross bench independents for keeping Labor in power and renewed his calls for a general election to select the next Prime Minister of Australia.


title: Tony Abbott

text: In criticising the Gillard Government on foreign policy, Abbott said that "foreign policy should have a Jakarta rather than a Geneva focus". Following his attendance at the 10th anniversary commemoration of the Bali bombing in Bali, Abbott travelled to Jakarta with his Shadow Ministers for Foreign Affairs and Immigration for a meeting with Indonesian President Yudhoyono and Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa. Abbott promised a "no-surprises principle" for dealings with Indonesia. The presidential reception was an unusual occurrence for an opposition leader.


title: Tony Abbott

text: In November 2012, Abbott launched his fourth book, "A Strong Australia", a compilation of nine of his "landmark speeches" from 2012, including his budget reply and National Press Club addresses.


title: Tony Abbott

text: On 9 October 2012, Prime Minister Julia Gillard accused Tony Abbott of misogyny and hypocrisy in a speech to Parliament that gained international notice.


title: Tony Abbott

text: At the federal election on 7 September 2013, Abbott led the Liberal-National coalition to victory over the incumbent Labor government, led by Kevin Rudd. Abbott and his ministry were sworn in on 18 September 2013. He was the subject of criticism for his decision to only include one woman, Deputy Liberal leader Julie Bishop, in his cabinet.


title: Tony Abbott

text: On the first day of the new Parliament, Abbott introduced legislation into Parliament to repeal the Carbon Tax, and commenced Operation Sovereign Borders, the Coalition's policy to stop the maritime arrival of asylum seekers, which received strong public support.


title: Tony Abbott

text: Abbott announced a Royal Commission into trade union governance and corruption on 11 February 2014. This was followed by amendments to the Fair Work Act, and a "Repeal Day", where more than 10,000 "red tape" regulations were repealed.


title: Tony Abbott

text: The Carbon Tax Repeal Bill passed both houses of Parliament on 17 July 2014 and the Mining Tax Repeal Bill passed both houses of Parliament on 2 September 2014 after negotiations with the Palmer United Party.


title: Tony Abbott

text: The 2014 Australian federal budget, the Abbott Government's first budget, delivered by Treasurer Joe Hockey, was criticised by the Opposition as "cruel" and "unfair" and a large number of budget saving measures were blocked by the crossbench in the Senate. Hockey and Abbott were both criticised for their inability to "sell" the necessity of the budget cuts to the cross bench or the public. Hockey was further criticised for several "out of touch" and "insensitive" comments in subsequent months, however, the prime minister continuously publicly backed the treasurer, refusing to replace him with a better performing minister.


title: Tony Abbott

text: On 25 March 2014, Abbott announced that he had advised the Queen to reinstate the knight and dame system of honours to the Order of Australia. Outgoing Governor-General Quentin Bryce and her successor, Peter Cosgrove, became the first recipients of the reinstated honours. On Australia Day 2015, Abbott announced that Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, the Queen's husband and a resident of the United Kingdom, would be appointed a Knight of the Order of Australia. This decision was widely criticised, including by members of the government, and fuelled speculation that the prime minister's leadership could be challenged. On 2 November 2015, new prime minister Malcolm Turnbull announced that knights and dames had been removed from the Order of Australia, as "not appropriate in our modern honours system", although existing titles would not be affected.


title: Tony Abbott

text: On 6 February 2015, Liberal backbencher Luke Simpkins announced that he would move a motion, at a meeting of the party room, for a spill of the federal Liberal Party's leadership positions. Simpkins stated that such a motion would give Liberal members of parliament and senators the opportunity to either endorse the Prime Minister or "seek a new direction." The meeting was held on 9 February 2015 and the spill motion was defeated by 61 votes to 39. Both Malcolm Turnbull and deputy leader Julie Bishop were speculated to be considering a leadership run if the spill motion had succeeded. Prime Minister Abbott described the leadership motion as a "near death experience" and declared that "good government starts today", promising to consult his colleagues more, to shy away from his so-called "captain's calls" and to reduce the role of his chief of staff Peta Credlin.


title: Tony Abbott

text: In July 2015, Bronwyn Bishop, who had been successfully nominated by Abbott in November 2013 for the position of Speaker of the House, came under intense media scrutiny after details of her use of taxpayer-funded political entitlements were made public, including chartering a helicopter flight between Melbourne and Geelong to attend a Liberal party fundraiser. Abbott was criticised over his handling of the entitlements scandal as he allowed the controversy to drag on for weeks because of his refusal to sack the Speaker, a close friend and political mentor. Despite Abbott's support, Bishop resigned as Speaker on 2 August 2015.


title: Tony Abbott

text: During Abbott's prime ministership, Australian law continued to define marriage as a union of a man and a woman, while recognising same-sex couples as de facto couples in areas such as taxation law, social security law, immigration and superannuation, and Abbott did not support changing the law. During Abbott's time as Opposition Leader and Prime Minister, the position of the Labor Party and opinion polls shifted towards favouring same-sex marriage. Abbott determined that a national plebiscite, rather than a Parliamentary vote should settle the issue.


title: Tony Abbott

text: As an Opposition front bencher in 2008, Abbott wrote: "The love and commitment between two people of the same sex can be as strong as that between husband and wife... There is more moral quality in a relationship between two people devoted to each other for decades than in many a short-lived marriage. Still, however deeply affectionate or long lasting it may be, the relationship between two people of the same sex cannot be a marriage because a marriage, by definition, is between a man and a woman... Let's celebrate all strong relationships, whether they are between a man and a woman or between people of the same sex but let's be careful about describing every lasting sexual bond as a 'marriage'." The First Rudd Government and Gillard Government held similar views (although the short-lived second Rudd government reversed Labor's position on the issue).


title: Tony Abbott

text: Abbott reaffirmed that he did not support changing the law to recognise same-sex marriage, and did not alter Coalition policy on the issue – however he permitted Coalition members to advocate for change if they felt strongly on the issue, and indicated that if a bill were to come before the new parliament, the Coalition party room would discuss its stance on the issue. Opinion polls suggested growing support for change. On 11 August 2015, after renewed debate about same-sex marriage in Australia, Abbott called a Coalition Party room vote and Coalition MPs voted against allowing a free vote on the issue 66 to 33. Some MPs said they were willing to cross the floor on the issue and Abbott was criticised by some pro-gay marriage Liberal MPs, including Christopher Pyne, for holding the vote in the Coalition party room, rather than the Liberal party room (as the inclusion of National Party votes decreased chances of a pro-change outcome). To settle the issue, Abbott proposed a plebiscite following the next election. Although he remained personally opposed to change, he said Parliament should respect the outcome of the national vote on the issue. A national plebiscite regarding same-sex marriage would eventually be held in 2017, under the subsequent Turnbull Government.


title: Tony Abbott

text: On 14 September 2015, Malcolm Turnbull, the Minister for Communications, resigned and stated his intention to challenge the Liberal Party leadership in a leadership spill. A party-room meeting held that evening saw Abbott defeated by Turnbull on a 54–44 vote. According to "The Economist", Abbott was ousted due to poor opinion polling, lacklustre economic management, and involvement in several political gaffes and scandals. In comments just after the result was announced, Turnbull praised Abbott for his "formidable achievements" as prime minister. By the time he was removed from premiership, Abbott was one of the most unpopular world leaders, and he has been regarded by critics and political experts as one of Australia's worst prime ministers.


title: Tony Abbott

text: After Malcolm Turnbull successfully challenged Abbott for the Liberal Party leadership in 2015, Abbott returned to the government backbench and pledged to remain in Parliament. In a final media conference as Prime Minister, Abbott told reporters: "Leadership changes are never easy for our country. My pledge today is to make this change as easy as I can. There will be no wrecking, no undermining, and no sniping. I've never leaked or backgrounded against anyone. And I certainly won't start now [...] I am proud of what the Abbott Government has achieved. We stayed focused despite the white-anting [...] The nature of politics has changed in the past decade. A febrile media culture has developed that rewards treachery. If there's one piece of advice I can give to the media, it's this: refuse to print self-serving claims that the person making them won't put his or her name to. Refuse to connive at dishonour by acting as the assassin's knife."


title: Tony Abbott

text: Malcolm Turnbull gave the former Prime Minister no portfolio in the new government. As a backbencher, he continued to defend the record of the Abbott Government, and speak out on a range of issues. Following the November 2015 Paris attacks, he backed Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi call for a "revolution in Islam" in a speech in Singapore, and told Sky News, "All of those things that Islam has never had — a Reformation, an Enlightenment, a well-developed concept of the separation of church and state — that needs to happen." He defended the Abbott Government's 2014 Budget measures and called on future Prime Ministers to follow his commitment to spending a week a year in indigenous communities. Abbott declared he would have won the 2016 Election. In a December 2015 editorial, The Sydney Morning Herald accused Abbott of contradicting his undertaking that there would be "no undermining of Malcolm Turnbull".


title: Tony Abbott

text: On 24 January 2016, Abbott confirmed that he would stand for Liberal preselection for the Division of Warringah in the federal election. He was re-elected with a small swing against him, matching the statewide swing against the Government. Following his re-election, he voiced various concerns about the direction of the Turnbull Government. In February 2017, he told a book launch that the Turnbull government was perceived by many conservatives as "Labor lite", and risked a "drift to defeat" at the upcoming election if it failed to improve its performance. Turnbull's ousting of Abbott had divided the Liberal Party rank and file and tensions continued in the parliamentary Party. Abbott said Turnbull supporters had plotted against him.


title: Tony Abbott

text: In the lead up to the 2017 postal survey on same sex marriage, Abbott campaigned for the retention of the status quo. During the campaign, Abbott was headbutted in Hobart by protester Astro Labe, who was sentenced to six months imprisonment. Following the "yes" vote in the plebiscite, Abbott said he accepted the result, and that the matter was settled.


title: Tony Abbott

text: In October 2015, The Australian reported that a "poll of 1631 voters shows 62 per cent of Australians believe the Liberal Party did the right thing" in ousting Abbott. Abbott was returned as the Member for Warringah at the subsequent election, but the Coalition's majority in the House of Representatives was reduced from 29 seats to one seat. In April 2018, the now-elected Turnbull Government reached the 30-consecutive-Newspoll-losses benchmark Turnbull had used to unseat Abbott. Turnbull resigned after losing the support of the Party in room during the Liberal leadership spills of 2018. Abbott supported Peter Dutton in the leadership vote. Following the election of Scott Morrison as party leader, Abbott said the Coalition now had a better chance of re-election in the upcoming poll, telling the Centre for Independent Studies: "I am confident, given the ministerial appointments that he's made, that there will be better policy, there will be a united party, and there will be a sharper difference with our opponents."


title: Tony Abbott

text: Following Turnbull's resignation, Abbott was appointed as Prime Minister Scott Morrison's Special Envoy on Indigenous Affairs, with a brief to focus on indigenous school attendance and performance. Abbott presented his first report to Parliament as Special Envoy in December 2018. He recommended increasing substantially the salary supplements and the retention bonuses for teachers in very remote areas; waiving HECS debt of longer term teachers in very remote schools; incentives for communities to adopt debit card arrangements; an extension of the Remote School Attendance Strategy, with more local school buy-in and engagement; extension of the Good to Great Schools program that has reintroduced phonics and disciplined learning for further evaluation and emulation; and that the government should match the Australian Indigenous Education Foundation's private and philanthropic funding on an ongoing basis.


title: Tony Abbott

text: On 18 May 2019, during the federal election, Abbott lost his seat of Warringah to independent candidate and former Olympic skier Zali Steggall, marking the first time the seat had been lost by the Liberals and their predecessors since its creation in 1922. Steggal ran as a pro-climate action candidate and her campaign won extensive media coverage and the backing of the left wing GetUp! lobby group. Abbott went into the election holding Warringah on a two party preferred margin of 61 percent. However, he lost over 12 percent of his primary vote from 2016, and finished over 4,100 votes behind Steggall on the first preference count and over 13,000 after preferences were distributed - losing by 57.2% to 42.8% . Abbott had won the seat at nine elections and served 25 years as the Member for Warringah.


title: Tony Abbott

text: On 4 September 2020, Abbott was appointed as an adviser to the UK's Board of Trade with the stated aim of providing "a range of views to help in its advisory function, promoting free and fair trade and advising on UK trade policy to the International Trade Secretary". The role involves advising on the negotiation of international trade deals for the UK, but it was reported that Abbott would not be involved in advising the government on the country's Brexit process. He will be joined on the board by other senior political figures, including Patricia Hewitt, a former UK Secretary of State for Health, Daniel Hannan, a former Member of the European Parliament, and Linda Yueh, a writer and broadcaster. News of the appointment prompted UK Opposition politicians to question his suitability for the job because of comments previously made by Abbott about climate change, women and same-sex marriage. Boris Johnson, the UK's Prime Minister, said that he could not agree with the views of everyone in his government, but that Abbott had been elected as Prime Minister by that "great, liberal democratic nation of Australia" which he said "speaks for itself".


title: Tony Abbott

text: Abbott has an active interest in indigenous affairs. As Opposition Leader, Abbott promised to prioritise indigenous affairs. As Prime Minister, Abbott reformed the administration of the portfolio, moving it into the Department of Prime Minister.


title: Tony Abbott

text: As Health Minister, Abbott established the Nurse Family Partnership to improve conditions for indigenous youth. As Opposition Leader, he worked with Cape York Aboriginal activist Noel Pearson, volunteered as a teacher in remote Aboriginal Communities and gave a commitment to continue to live one week a year in such communities if elected Prime Minister. In contrast to his mentor John Howard, Abbott praised Rudd's National Apology to the Stolen Generation.


title: Tony Abbott

text: While the Coalition and Labor were engaged in negotiations with crossbenchers to obtain minority government in 2010, Noel Pearson lobbied Rob Oakeshott to back Abbott. Rising to support the passage of the Gillard Government's historic Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples Recognition Bill through the House of Representatives in 2013, Abbott said:


title: Tony Abbott

text: In November 2012, Abbott flew to Alice Springs to back Aboriginal Country Liberal Party MLA Alison Anderson to run in the federal seat of Lingiari and become the first indigenous woman to enter Parliament.


title: Tony Abbott

text: In August 2015, he disappointed Aboriginal leaders Patrick Dodson and Noel Pearson by rejecting as potentially divisive their request for the federal government to fund a series of Indigenous-only conventions on the wording for the referendum.


title: Tony Abbott

text: Abbott supports the Australian monarchy. Before entering parliament, he worked as the Executive Director of Australians for Constitutional Monarchy from 1993 to 1994.


title: Tony Abbott

text: In March 2014, Abbott advised the Queen to reintroduce the grade of Knight/Dame to the Order of Australia, without discussing it in the Cabinet and despite stating in December 2013 that he did not plan to do so. The Fraser Government initially introduced the grade of Knight/Dame of the Order of Australia in 1976; the Hawke Government discontinued it in 1986.


title: Tony Abbott

text: Before becoming Opposition Leader, Abbott initially supported proposals by Liberal leaders Howard and Turnbull to introduce floating prices to reduce carbon emissions, but also expressed some doubts as to the science and economics underlying such initiatives. In 2009, Abbott announced his opposition to Turnbull's support for the Rudd Government's Emissions Trading Scheme proposal, and successfully challenged Turnbull for the Liberal leadership, chiefly over this issue. As Opposition Leader, Abbott declared that he accepted that climate change was real and that humans were having an impact on it, but rejected carbon pricing as a means to address the issue, proposing instead to match the Labor government's 5% emissions reduction target through implementation of a plan involving financial incentives for emissions reductions by industry, and support for carbon storage in soils and expanded forests. On the eve of the 2013 election, Abbott told the ABC:


title: Tony Abbott

text: Before becoming Opposition Leader in November 2009, Abbott questioned the science of climate change and an ETS. In November 2009, Abbott outlined his objections to the Rudd Government's carbon pricing plan on the ABC's Lateline program. Upon becoming Leader of the Opposition, Abbott put the question of support for the Government's Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS) to a secret ballot and the Liberal Party voted to reject the policy – overturning an undertaking by Turnbull to support an amended version of the government's scheme. Under Abbott, the Coalition joined the Greens and voted against the CPRS in the Senate, and the bill was defeated twice, providing a double dissolution trigger. The Rudd government eventually deferred its CPRS legislation until 2013.


title: Tony Abbott

text: With Abbott as Opposition Leader, the Liberal party opposed a carbon emissions tax and an Emissions Trading Scheme. Abbott predicted in March 2012 that the Gillard government's carbon tax would be the world's "biggest". A January 2013 OECD report on taxation of energy use measured Australia's effective tax rate on carbon at 1 July 2012 as among the lower rates in the OECD. In July 2011, Abbott criticised the proposed powers of the government's carbon tax regulator.


title: Tony Abbott

text: In October 2017, Abbott spoke in London at the Global Warming Policy Foundation, a climate-skeptic lobby group, where he described climate change as "probably doing good; or at least, more good than harm." He argued that higher concentrations of carbon dioxide act as "plant food" and "are actually greening the planet and helping to lift agricultural yields."


title: Tony Abbott

text: Abbott opposed the legislation of same-sex marriage in Australia. Abbott is an opponent of embryonic stem cell research and euthanasia. He supports the right for women to have an abortion. As Health Minister, he tried, but failed, to block the introduction of the abortion pill RU-486. As Health Minister, Abbott advocated for reducing the number of abortions performed each year as a national priority, and referred to abortion as the "easy way out". Abbott opposed allowing the introduction of embryonic stem cell research or "therapeutic cloning" in a conscience vote.


title: Tony Abbott

text: In his 2009 book "Battlelines", Abbott proposed that consideration should be given to a return to an optional at-fault divorce agreement between couples who would like it, similar to the "Matrimonial Causes Act", which would require spouses to prove offences like adultery, habitual drunkenness, cruelty, desertion, or a five-year separation before a divorce would be granted. Abbott said that this would be a way of "providing additional recognition to what might be thought of as traditional marriage".


title: Tony Abbott

text: Early on in his Prime Ministership, the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly passed the Marriage Equality (Same Sex) Act 2013, a bill to allow same-sex couples to legally marry. Abbott announced that the federal government would challenge this decision in the High Court. The case was heard on 3 December. Nine days later, on 12 December, the High Court gave judgement that the Same Sex Act would be dismantled as it clashed with the Federal Marriage Act 1961. When the Marriage Amendment (Definition and Religious Freedoms) Act 2017, which posed the question of whether same-sex couples should be able to marry, was presented to members of parliament, Abbott abstained from voting. Ultimately, same-sex marriage would be passed into law in December 2017.


title: Tony Abbott

text: Abbott supported Peter Dutton's call to give "special treatment" to white South African farmers seeking asylum.


title: Tony Abbott

text: Abbott was opposed to a majority Fibre-to-the-Home (FttH) National Broadband Network (NBN). In 2010, as Leader of the Opposition, Abbott stated that he would "ferociously" hold the Labor government to account over what he believed to be "a white elephant on a massive scale" and would "demolish" the NBN.


title: Tony Abbott

text: In 2010, Abbott argued that an LTE network could meet Australia's future broadband needs, with "a tower on every street corner".


title: Tony Abbott

text: In 2011, he called for the NBN to be scrapped entirely with funding diverted to assist with recovery efforts following the Queensland floods, stating "The National Broadband Network is a luxury that Australia cannot now afford. The one thing you don't do is redo your bathroom when your roof has just been blown off."


title: Tony Abbott

text: With Malcolm Turnbull as Shadow Minister for Communications and Broadband, the Liberal/National Coalition proposed an alternative - The Multi-Technology Mix (MTM), which heavily utilised Fibre to the Node (FttN) technology - in the lead up to the 2013 Australian federal election. Abbott said that if elected, all Australians would have access to a minimum broadband speed of 25Mbit/s by the end of their first term of government. They promised download speeds between 25 and 100 Mbit/s by the end of 2016 and 50 to 100 Mbit/s by 2019, with the rollout completed by the end of 2019.


title: Tony Abbott

text: Abbott called the AUKUS defense pact between the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia, which is directed at countering Chinese power in the Indo-Pacific region, "the biggest decision that any Australian government has made in decades" as "it indicates that we are going to stand shoulder to shoulder with the United States and the United Kingdom in meeting the great strategic challenge of our time, which obviously, is China". Abbott said that Australia would be safer as a result, and cited China's increasing naval firepower as a justification for the deal.


title: Tony Abbott

text: In March 2020, an Australian computer security researcher obtained Abbott's passport number and personal phone number after Abbott posted a photo of his aeroplane boarding pass on Instagram. The researcher found a security flaw in the online check-in portal of the airline carrier Qantas, that divulged sensitive information given details printed on the pass.


title: Tony Abbott

text: When Abbott was 22, his girlfriend at the time became pregnant and claimed he was the biological father. The couple did not marry and put the child up for adoption. For 27 years, Abbott believed that he was the father of the child. In 2004, the man sought out Abbott, and it was publicly revealed he was an ABC sound recordist who worked in Parliament House, Canberra, and was involved in making television programs in which Abbott appeared. The story was reported around the world, but DNA testing later revealed that Abbott was not the man's father.


title: Tony Abbott

text: Following his departure from the seminary, Abbott met and married Margaret "Margie" Aitken, a New Zealander working in Sydney. The couple have three daughters (Louise, Bridget and Frances), and became grandparents in 2021.


title: Tony Abbott

text: As a former Catholic seminarian, Abbott's religiosity has come to national attention and journalists have often sought his views on the role of religion in politics. According to John Warhurst of the Australian National University, academics have at times placed an "exaggerated concentration on the religious affiliation and personal religious background of just one of [the Howard government's] senior ministers, Tony Abbott." Journalist Michelle Grattan wrote in 2010 that while Abbott has always "worn his Catholicism on his sleeve", he is "clearly frustrated by the obsession with [it] and what might hang off that". Abbott has said that a politician should not rely on religion to justify a political point of view:


title: Tony Abbott

text: Various political positions supported by Abbott have been criticised by church representatives, including aspects of Coalition industrial relations, asylum seeker, and Aboriginal affairs policies. After criticisms of Liberal Party policy by clergy, Abbott has said, "The priesthood gives someone the power to consecrate bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ. It doesn't give someone the power to convert poor logic into good logic."


title: Tony Abbott

text: Abbott is an active volunteer member for the Davidson, NSW Rural Fire Service. He is also an active volunteer member of the Queenscliff Surf Life Saving Club.


title: Tony Abbott

text: Abbott participates in the Pollie Pedal, an annual 1,000 km charity bike ride. In April 2007, he launched the tenth annual Pollie Pedal, to raise money for breast cancer research.


title: Tony Abbott

text: In 2008, Abbott spent three weeks teaching in a remote Aboriginal settlement in Coen on Cape York, organised through indigenous leader Noel Pearson. He taught remedial reading to Aboriginal children and worked with an income management group helping families manage their welfare payments. In 2009, he spent 10 days in Aurukun on Cape York working with the truancy team, visiting children who had not been attending school. Abbott's stated goal for these visits was to familiarise himself with indigenous issues.


title: Tony Abbott

text: Abbott has published four books. In 2009, he launched "Battlelines"; a personal biography, reflections on the Howard Government and discussion of potential policy directions for the Liberal Party of Australia. Previously he had published two books in defence of the existing constitutional monarchy system, "The Minimal Monarchy" and "How to Win the Constitutional War". In 2012, he released a compilation of key speeches from that year, entitled "A Strong Australia".


title: Sarah Wright

text: Sarah Fay Wright Olsen (born September 28, 1983) is an American actress. She played Millicent Gergich in a recurring role on "Parks and Recreation".


title: Sarah Wright

text: Wright began her acting career at an early age. When she was 14 years old she became a model and soon after, she appeared in a minor role in the 1998 comedy "Enchanted". She played the character of Paige Chase in the sitcom "Quintuplets". She co-starred in the sitcom "The Loop" as Lizzy. She also played the recurring role of Jane on the CW series "7th Heaven". In 2011, Wright began a recurring role in the CBS mid-season replacement comedy series "Mad Love" and maintained a small recurring role as Millicent Gergich on the NBC show "Parks and Recreation".


title: Sarah Wright

text: In 2017, Wright co-starred alongside Tom Cruise in the action crime film "American Made" as Lucy Seal. She had a major role in the Netflix show "Spinning Out", which aired January 1, 2020.


title: Sarah Wright

text: Wright was born on September 28, 1983, in Louisville, Kentucky. She graduated from Seneca High School and married A. J. Mason in 2005; they divorced in 2006.


title: Sarah Wright

text: In 2011, on an episode of "The Talk", Wright announced her engagement to actor Eric Christian Olsen. They were married near Jackson Hole, Wyoming, on June 23, 2012. Their children are son Wyatt Oliver Olsen (born 2013) and daughters Esme Olivia Olsen (born 2016) and Winter Story Olsen (born in 2020).


title: Sarah Wright

text: Olsen and actress Teresa Palmer co-founded the parenting site Your Zen Mama and co-authored the book "Zen Mamas: Finding Your Path Through Pregnancy, Birth and Beyond" in 2021.


title: Phosphate

text: In chemistry, a phosphate is an anion, salt, functional group or ester derived from a phosphoric acid. It most commonly means orthophosphate, a derivative of orthophosphoric acid .


title: Phosphate

text: The phosphate or orthophosphate ion is derived from phosphoric acid by the removal of three protons . Removal of one or two protons gives the dihydrogen phosphate ion and the hydrogen phosphate ion ion, respectively. These names are also used for salts of those anions, such as ammonium dihydrogen phosphate and trisodium phosphate.


title: Phosphate

text: In organic chemistry, phosphate or orthophosphate is an organophosphate, an ester of orthophosphoric acid of the form where one or more hydrogen atoms are replaced by organic groups. An example is trimethyl phosphate, . The term also refers to the trivalent functional group in such esters.


title: Phosphate

text: Orthophosphates are especially important among the various phosphates because of their key roles in biochemistry, biogeochemistry, and ecology, and their economic importance for agriculture and industry. The addition and removal of phosphate groups (phosphorylation and dephosphorylation) are key steps in cell metabolism.


title: Phosphate

text: The phosphate ion has a molar mass of 94.97 g/mol, and consists of a central phosphorus atom surrounded by four oxygen atoms in a tetrahedral arrangement. It is the conjugate base of the hydrogen phosphate ion , which in turn is the conjugate base of the dihydrogen phosphate ion , which in turn is the conjugate base of orthophosphoric acid, .


title: Phosphate

text: Many phosphates are soluble in water at standard temperature and pressure. The sodium, potassium, rubidium, caesium, and ammonium phosphates are all water-soluble. Most other phosphates are only slightly soluble or are insoluble in water. As a rule, the hydrogen and dihydrogen phosphates are slightly more soluble than the corresponding phosphates.


title: Phosphate

text: In water solution, orthophosphoric acid and its three derived anions coexist according to the dissociation and recombination equilibria below


title: Phosphate

text: The p"K" values are the pH values where the concentration of each species is equal to that of its conjugate bases. At pH 1 or lower, the phosphoric acid is practically undissociated. Around pH 4.7 (mid-way between the first two p"K" values) the dihydrogen phosphate ion, , is practically the only species present. Around pH 9.8 (mid-way between the second and third p"K" values) the monohydrogen phosphate ion, , is the only species present. At pH 13 or higher, the acid is completely dissociated as the phosphate ion, .


title: Phosphate

text: This means that salts of the mono- and di-phosphate ions can be selectively crystallised from aqueous solution by setting the pH value to either 4.7 or 9.8.


title: Phosphate

text: Phosphate can form many polymeric ions such as pyrophosphate, , and triphosphate, . The various metaphosphate ions (which are usually long linear polymers) have an empirical formula of and are found in many compounds.


title: Phosphate

text: In biological systems, phosphorus can be found as free phosphate anions in solution (inorganic phosphate) or bound to organic molecules as various organophosphates.


title: Phosphate

text: Inorganic phosphate is generally denoted P and at physiological (homeostatic) pH primarily consists of a mixture of and ions. At a neutral pH, as in the cytosol (pH = 7.0), the concentrations of the orthophoshoric acid and its three anions have the ratios


title: Phosphate

text: Thus, only and ions are present in significant amounts in the cytosol (62% , 38% ). In extracellular fluid (pH = 7.4), this proportion is inverted (61% , 39% ).


title: Phosphate

text: Inorganic phosphate can be present also as of pyrophosphate anions , which can give orthophosphate by hydrolysis:


title: Phosphate

text: Organic phosphates are commonly found in the form of esters as nucleotides (e.g. AMP, ADP, and ATP) and in DNA and RNA. Free orthophosphate anions can be released by the hydrolysis of the phosphoanhydride bonds in ATP or ADP. These phosphorylation and dephosphorylation reactions are the immediate storage and source of energy for many metabolic processes. ATP and ADP are often referred to as high-energy phosphates, as are the phosphagens in muscle tissue. Similar reactions exist for the other nucleoside diphosphates and triphosphates.


title: Phosphate

text: An important occurrence of phosphates in biological systems is as the structural material of bone and teeth. These structures are made of crystalline calcium phosphate in the form of hydroxyapatite. The hard dense enamel of mammalian teeth may contain fluoroapatite, a hydroxy calcium phosphate where some of the hydroxyl groups have been replaced by fluoride ions.


title: Phosphate

text: The medicinal type (salt) of phosphorus is phosphate. Some phosphates, which help cure many urinary tract infections, are used to make urine more acidic. To avoid the development of calcium stones in the urinary tract, some phosphates are used. For patients who are unable to get enough phosphorus in their daily diet, phosphates are used as dietary supplements, usually because of certain disorders or diseases. Injectable phosphates can only be handled by a health care provider.


title: Phosphate

text: Plants take up phosphorus through several pathways: the arbuscular mycorrhizal pathway and the direct uptake pathway.


title: Phosphate

text: Hyperphosphatemia, or a high blood level of phosphates, is associated with elevated mortality in the general population. Hyperphosphatemia is generally caused by phosphate food additives, as phosphates that are naturally present in food are not completely absorbed by the gastrointestinal tract. Phosphates induce vascular calcification, and a high concentration of phosphates in blood was found to be a predictor of cardiovascular events.


title: Phosphate

text: Phosphates are commonly used as additives in industrially processed food and fast food. Fast food and ready-to-eat processed foods are the main contributors of the rising consumption of phosphate among the population. Phosphates additives are also commonly found in flavoured soft drinks as well as certain dairy products.


title: Phosphate

text: Phosphates are the naturally occurring form of the element phosphorus, found in many phosphate minerals. In mineralogy and geology, phosphate refers to a rock or ore containing phosphate ions. Inorganic phosphates are mined to obtain phosphorus for use in agriculture and industry.


title: Phosphate

text: The largest global producer and exporter of phosphates is Morocco. Within North America, the largest deposits lie in the Bone Valley region of central Florida, the Soda Springs region of southeastern Idaho, and the coast of North Carolina. Smaller deposits are located in Montana, Tennessee, Georgia, and South Carolina. The small island nation of Nauru and its neighbor Banaba Island, which used to have massive phosphate deposits of the best quality, have been mined excessively. Rock phosphate can also be found in Egypt, Israel, Palestine, Western Sahara, Navassa Island, Tunisia, Togo, and Jordan, countries that have large phosphate-mining industries.


title: Phosphate

text: In 2007, at the current rate of consumption, the supply of phosphorus was estimated to run out in 345 years. However, some scientists thought that a "peak phosphorus" would occur in 30 years and Dana Cordell from Institute for Sustainable Futures said that at "current rates, reserves will be depleted in the next 50 to 100 years". Reserves refer to the amount assumed recoverable at current market prices. In 2012 the USGS estimated world reserves at 71 billion tons, while 0.19 billion tons were mined globally in 2011. Phosphorus comprises 0.1% by mass of the average rock (while, for perspective, its typical concentration in vegetation is 0.03% to 0.2%), and consequently there are quadrillions of tons of phosphorus in Earth's 3×10-ton crust, albeit at predominantly lower concentration than the deposits counted as reserves, which are inventoried and cheaper to extract. If it is assumed that the phosphate minerals in phosphate rock are mainly hydroxyapatite and fluoroapatite, phosphate minerals contain roughly 18.5% phosphorus by weight. If phosphate rock contains around 20% of these minerals, the average phosphate rock has roughly 3.7% phosphorus by weight.


title: Phosphate

text: Some phosphate rock deposits, such as Mulberry in Florida, are notable for their inclusion of significant quantities of radioactive uranium isotopes. This is a concern because radioactivity can be released into surface waters from application of the resulting phosphate fertilizer.


title: Phosphate

text: In December 2012, Cominco Resources announced an updated JORC compliant resource of their Hinda project in Congo-Brazzaville of 531 million tons, making it the largest measured and indicated phosphate deposit in the world.


title: Phosphate

text: The largest importers in millions of metric tons of phosphate are Brazil 3.2, India 2.9 and the USA 1.6.


title: Phosphate

text: The three principal phosphate producer countries (China, Morocco and the United States) account for about 70% of world production.


title: Phosphate

text: In ecological terms, because of its important role in biological systems, phosphate is a highly sought after resource. Once used, it is often a limiting nutrient in environments, and its availability may govern the rate of growth of organisms. This is generally true of freshwater environments, whereas nitrogen is more often the limiting nutrient in marine (seawater) environments. Addition of high levels of phosphate to environments and to micro-environments in which it is typically rare can have significant ecological consequences. For example, blooms in the populations of some organisms at the expense of others, and the collapse of populations deprived of resources such as oxygen (see eutrophication) can occur. In the context of pollution, phosphates are one component of total dissolved solids, a major indicator of water quality, but not all phosphorus is in a molecular form that algae can break down and consume.


title: Phosphate

text: Calcium hydroxyapatite and calcite precipitates can be found around bacteria in alluvial topsoil. As clay minerals promote biomineralization, the presence of bacteria and clay minerals resulted in calcium hydroxyapatite and calcite precipitates.


title: Phosphate

text: Phosphate deposits can contain significant amounts of naturally occurring heavy metals. Mining operations processing phosphate rock can leave tailings piles containing elevated levels of cadmium, lead, nickel, copper, chromium, and uranium. Unless carefully managed, these waste products can leach heavy metals into groundwater or nearby estuaries. Uptake of these substances by plants and marine life can lead to concentration of toxic heavy metals in food products.


title: Rob Paulsen

text: Robert Frederick Paulsen III (born March 11, 1956) is an American voice actor, known for his roles in numerous animated television series and films. He received a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program and three Annie Awards for his role as Pinky.


title: Rob Paulsen

text: Rob Paulsen was born in Detroit, Michigan on March 11, 1956, the son of Bob and Lee Paulsen. He was raised in Grand Blanc, Michigan, where he graduated from Grand Blanc High School in 1974. He sang in choirs throughout his youth and adolescence and began performing in plays in school, but his childhood idol was ice hockey player Gordie Howe, and he considered the arts to be a secondary career choice due to his primary interest in becoming an NHL player. He briefly attended the University of Michigan-Flint, but later dropped out and moved to Los Angeles in 1978 to pursue a career in show business, much to the disapproval of his father. He worked his first job as a musician, before pursuing voice acting full time.


title: Rob Paulsen

text: Paulsen first voice acting role came in 1983 with the mini-series "", where he played Snow Job and Tripwire. A few years later, his career launched into more roles such as Cobra Slavemaster and reprising Snow Job and "Tripwire" on "", Corky on "The Snorks", Marco Smurf on the later seasons of "The Smurfs", "Boober" on the animated version of "", Hadji in "The New Adventures of Jonny Quest" and the title character Saber Rider and the villain Jesse Blue on "Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs".


title: Rob Paulsen

text: During the 1980s, Paulsen also explored the field of live action films. His first movie was "Eyes of Fire" in 1983. He played supporting roles in "Body Double", "Stewardess School", "Warlock", and "Mutant on the Bounty". He appeared in television shows during this time as well, such as "MacGyver" and "St. Elsewhere".


title: Rob Paulsen

text: Paulsen became more prevalent in the world of advertising as well. In the 1980s, he had been the announcer for the sitcom "Cheers" and continued to secure roles as an announcer. He appeared as the voice of Mr. Opportunity, spokesman of Honda commercials on TV and radio, the announcer for "Buffalo Dick's Radio Ranch", and the spokesman for Lucky Stores, a West Coast grocery store chain, before it was acquired by Albertsons in 1998. He provided the voice of Dog in the Taco Bell kids meal commercials from 1996 to mid-1997, with Eddie Deezen as the voice of Nacho the cat.


title: Rob Paulsen

text: However, Paulsen's most famous advertising role was in the original commercial of the now ubiquitous Got Milk? campaign. The famous commercial, "Who shot Alexander Hamilton in that famous duel?", aired in 1993, and launched the "Got Milk?" campaign into a monstrously successful enterprise. Paulsen continues to be one of the most sought-after commercial voice actors in the industry. He can be currently heard as the voice of singing Mr. Mini-Wheat in the Mini-Wheats commercials in Canada.


title: Rob Paulsen

text: From 1987 to 1995, Paulsen voiced Raphael and various supporting characters in the original 1987 "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" series. Originally starting as a five-part miniseries, the series continued for ten seasons and 193 episodes. It was a great success and became an instant pop culture symbol. Paulsen has said that Raphael's voice is very similar to his natural voice.


title: Rob Paulsen

text: He returned to the franchise as Donatello for the "2012 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series" on Nickelodeon, which ran for five seasons and 124 episodes from September 29, 2012 until November 12, 2017. He also reprised his role as 1987 Raphael in the multiple 1987/2012 crossover episodes.


title: Rob Paulsen

text: Paulsen serves as the voice director for the subsequent series, "Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles", which premiered in July 2018.


title: Rob Paulsen

text: Throughout the early 1990s, Paulsen continued to co-star in animated series, which allowed him to branch further into radio and television announcements and dropped live action acting from his repertoire. In 1993, he voiced "Antoine D'Coolette" in ABC's series "Sonic the Hedgehog", and "Arthur", an insecure accountant in a moth costume (wings included), in the superhero series "The Tick" in 1995, replacing Micky Dolenz, who had originally played Arthur.


title: Rob Paulsen

text: In 1993, he starred as the title character in both "Mighty Max" and "". Also at this time, he starred in what became one of his most popular roles, Yakko Warner of "Animaniacs". Paulsen also provided the voice of Pinky from both "Animaniacs" and its spin-off "Pinky and the Brain", a show which won him several Annie Awards and a Daytime Emmy in 1999. He also did a number of characters in "Tiny Toon Adventures", including "Fowlmouth", "Arnold the Pit Bull", and "Concord Condor". In the direct-to-video movie "", he did the voices for Banjo Possum, Mr. Hitcher (who would also appear in other episodes), and Johnny Pew.


title: Rob Paulsen

text: Paulsen has also provided voices for numerous other characters, including Steelbeak in "Darkwing Duck", Brick and Boomer in "The Powerpuff Girls", Atchan in "Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi", Spooky the Tuff Little Ghost in "The Spooktacular New Adventures of Casper", Ogden O. Ostrich in "Channel Umptee-3", Hathi in "Jungle Cubs", Jack Fenton, The Box Ghost, Nicolai Technus, and The Vulture Ghosts in "Danny Phantom", Carl Wheezer, Butch and Skeet in "The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius", Mark Chang, his father King Grippulon, Happy Peppy Gary, and Bucky McBadbat in "The Fairly OddParents", Peck the Rooster in "Barnyard" and "Back at the Barnyard", and Gordon in "Catscratch".


title: Rob Paulsen

text: He was also the voice of Rothchild in the early episodes of "Samurai Jack". Additionally, Paulsen provided the voice of P.J. Pete in "Goof Troop", "A Goofy Movie", and "An Extremely Goofy Movie", as well as the voices of Ratchet and Dr. Debolt in the "TaleSpin" pilot episode and introductory TV movie "Plunder & Lightning". He also did the voices of Boober Fraggle, Sprocket, and Marjory the Trash Heap in the animated version of "", as well as Gwizdo in the Dragon Hunters movie.


title: Rob Paulsen

text: He also voiced Zeek and Joshua in "K10C: Kids' Ten Commandments", Rude Dog in "Rude Dog and the Dweebs", and Archie the Raccoon, A.K.A. Ze Archer, in "Mask of the Raccoon" on "The Penguins of Madagascar". and also provided the voices of 2T Fru-T and Mike Ellis in the 2001 cartoon series "Butt-Ugly Martians".


title: Rob Paulsen

text: He portrayed the voice of Chomper and Strut in "", Spike and Rinkus in "The Land Before Time" sequels and Spike in the TV series, but Spike was played anonymously in the original "The Land Before Time". Paulsen also played Mo in "". Paulsen also voiced the robot "D.E.C.K.S." in the early 1990s TV series "Wake, Rattle, and Roll". Paulsen also voiced Prescott A. Wentworth III in the "Jem" episode "The Fan". Paulsen also played Antoine D'coolette in Sonic the Hedgehog


title: Rob Paulsen

text: Paulsen was best known to Transformers fans as the voices of the Autobots Air Raid, Chase, Haywire, Fastlane and Slingshot in "The Transformers".


title: Rob Paulsen

text: Paulsen has voiced characters in video games such as "Doom 3". He played Fluffy the Chinese-crested dog in "", an Irish pub landlord in the 1996 video game "Toonstruck", and a floating talking skull named Morte in "", as well as Anomen Delryn in "" and Gray Fox in "" and both "Super Smash Bros. Brawl" and "Super Smash Bros. Ultimate" as an Assist Trophy. He provided the voice for Erik the Swift of "The Lost Vikings" in its second installment. He portrayed Tobli and Lian Ronso in the English version of Square Enix's "Final Fantasy X-2" and has played the lead character in "Bubsy". Although an extremely minor role, Paulsen has also done the voice for the Greek soldiers in "God of War". He voiced Jaq and The Grand Duke from the Cinderella world in Square Enix's and Disney's "Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep".


title: Rob Paulsen

text: In the video game "", he did the voice of Igor. He also reprised his role as Yakko Warner, Dr. Otto Scratchansniff, and Pinky in "". Rob Paulsen voiced the lead character, Lazarus Jones, in the PS2 game "Ghosthunter". Rob also voiced Alfredo Fettuccini, Bob the Ghost Pirate, Lookout and Ghost Priest in "The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition". He voiced the Fox and the Mouse in the "Green Eggs and Ham" PC game. He also voiced Tlaloc in "Tak and the Power of Juju". He has voiced The Riddler in "", a role he reprised in "". Rob is the voice of talking alien dog Beak-Beak in "Armikrog". Paulsen also voices Smash Hit in" " and "".


title: Rob Paulsen

text: Paulsen is also the off-camera voice of the syndicated television series "Funniest Pets & People", which is seen on Superstation WGN and other television stations throughout the United States and abroad.


title: Rob Paulsen

text: It was not long before Paulsen returned to Warner Bros. Animation, which had diverged into a new era of television serials (following what is sometimes referred to as the "Silver Age of Animation"). Paulsen appeared as Rev Runner of the new show "Loonatics Unleashed" and starred in "Coconut Fred's Fruit Salad Island". He was also the voice of the character Squeeky on the TV show "Danger Rangers". He voiced "Ichabeezer", Bacon Bill, Motato, Beau Rockley, Captain Mike, Tom Celeriac (a play on Tom Selleck), and other countless voices in "VeggieTales in the House" for Netflix. Paulsen also provides the voice for the Honda character Mr. Opportunity. In the Rob Zombie animated film, "The Haunted World of El Superbeasto", Paulsen voiced the characters "El Gato" and "Commandant Hess", among some others. He also has a role as Ditto, one of the alien forms on "Ben 10", as Rhomboid Vreedle of the Vreedle Brothers and Baz-El in "", two characters that he reprised, along with a new character, Magister Patelliday on "" and "".


title: Rob Paulsen

text: Beginning in 2001, Paulsen was the voice of Disney character José Carioca until he was succeeded by Eric Bauza in 2019. He became the new voice of Prince Eric of Disney's "The Little Mermaid" franchise beginning with the film "" since Christopher Daniel Barnes failed to reprise the role in 2000, though Barnes did return to voice the character in the "Kingdom Hearts" series when Paulsen was unavailable. Another Disney character he is currently the voice of is Toodles from the kids show "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse". From season 3, he voiced Toodles in the episodes "Happy Birthday Toodles", "Road Rally", and "Space Adventure", as well as every episode of season 4. He is also the voice of Peck the Rooster and other minor characters in the Nickelodeon computer-animated series "Back at the Barnyard" and various characters on the Disney Channel animated series "The Replacements". He is the voice of Bobble in the Tinker Bell movies. Paulsen also played the titular character for an animated web series based on the video game Bravoman for Namco Bandai's ShiftyLook division.


title: Rob Paulsen

text: Paulsen has been nominated for an Annie Award for his role of Pinky for 4 consecutive years, which he won in 1996, 1997, and 1999. In 1999, he also won the Daytime Emmy Award for voicing Pinky.


title: Rob Paulsen

text: In 2004, he was nominated for his role of the Troubadour in "", and in 2005, he was nominated for his role in "The Happy Elf".


title: Rob Paulsen

text: Paulsen has been a regular industry guest and featured panelist at San Diego Comic-Con International. He has also appeared at animation industry-related events, such as the World Animation Celebration Online in 1998, among many others. He has also been a guest at several anime conventions, including JACON, Mikomicon, and Anime Overdose. Paulsen was a guest of honor at Anthrocon in 2007. He has recently started doing "Rob Paulsen Live" seminars across the U.S. to talk of his career, sign autographs, and talk with fans. Sometimes, people in attendance would request him to sing the famous "Yakko's World" number, where he sings all the nations of the world with his Yakko voice in a fast-paced delivery without rehearsing.


title: Rob Paulsen

text: In May 2011, working with social media and web producer Chris Pope, Paulsen rolled out a new website RobPaulsenLive.com, as well as a weekly audio podcast called "Talkin' Toons with Rob Paulsen", which started out being managed and deployed by The Tech Jives Network, before moving to be part of Nerdist Industries' Nerdist Podcast Network. Some episodes were recorded before a live audience at The Improv in Hollywood, California, while later ones were recorded at the Nerdist Showroom. The show is on indefinite hiatus following the March 23, 2019 episode the Dante Basco.


title: Rob Paulsen

text: In June 2011, Paulsen made announcements that he was taking his show on the road with his "Lots of laughs and autographs" tour. Working closely with a team that included Chris Pope, his publicist, and others he made his first successful tour in Atlanta, Georgia, which happened on July 30, 2011, and another in Dallas, Texas on September 17, 2011, that required two seminars, one in the afternoon and one in the evening, as they were so popular.


title: Rob Paulsen

text: He married his second wife, photographer Parrish Todd, in 1983. Together, they have a son. He lives in Agoura Hills, California with his family.


title: Rob Paulsen

text: Paulsen has long supported various charities and raised donations for cancer research. He has worked a lot for GOALmodels, a program for adolescents, and is a sponsor of Camp Will-A-Way, a camp for children with developmental disabilities. He also donates funds from autographs to the Wounded Warrior Project and Operation Smile. In February 2016, he was diagnosed with stage III throat cancer. He has since undergone treatment and his cancer went in remission. Following his battle with cancer, he wrote a memoir called "Voice Lessons: How a Couple of Ninja Turtles, Pinky, and an Animaniac Saved My Life".


title: Pickup truck

text: A pickup truck or pickup is a light-duty truck that has an enclosed cabin, and a back end made up of a cargo bed that is enclosed by three low walls with no roof (this cargo bed back end sometimes consists of a tailgate and removable covering). In Australia and New Zealand, both pickups and coupé utilities are called utes, short for utility vehicle. In South Africa, people of all language groups use the term bakkie, a diminutive of "bak", Afrikaans for "basket".


title: Pickup truck

text: Once a work or farming tool with few creature comforts, in the 1950s U.S. consumers began purchasing pickups for lifestyle reasons, and by the 1990s, less than 15% of owners reported use in work as the pickup truck's primary purpose. In North America, the pickup is mostly used as a passenger car and accounts for about 18% of total vehicles sold in the United States. Full-sized pickups and SUVs are an important source of revenue for major car manufacturers such as GM, Ford, and Stellantis, accounting for more than two-thirds of their global pretax earnings, though they make up just 16% of North American vehicle production. These vehicles have a high profit margin and a high price tag; in 2018, Kelley Blue Book cited an average cost (including optional features) of US$47,174 for a new Ford F-150.


title: Pickup truck

text: The term pickup is of unknown origin. It was used by Studebaker in 1913 and by the 1930s, "pick-up" (hyphenated) had become the standard term.


title: Pickup truck

text: In the early days of automobile manufacturing, vehicles were sold as a chassis only, and third parties added bodies on top. In 1902, the Rapid Motor Vehicle Company was founded by Max Grabowsky and Morris Grabowsky who built one-ton carrying capacity trucks in Pontiac, Michigan. In 1913, the Galion Allsteel Body Company, an early developer of the pickup and dump truck, built and installed hauling boxes on slightly modified Ford Model T chassis, and from 1917 on the Model TT. Seeking part of this market share, Dodge introduced a 3/4-ton pickup with cab and body constructed entirely of wood in 1924. In 1925, Ford followed up with a Model T-based, steel-bodied, half-ton with an adjustable tailgate and heavy-duty rear springs. Billed as the "Ford Model T Runabout with Pickup Body", it sold for ; 34,000 were built. In 1928, it was replaced by the Model A, which had a closed-cab, safety-glass windshield, roll-up side windows, and three-speed transmission.


title: Pickup truck

text: In 1931, GM introduced light-duty pickups for both GMC and Chevrolet targeted at private ownership. These pickup trucks were based on the Chevrolet Master. In 1940, GM introduced the dedicated light-truck platform, separate from passenger cars, which GM named the AK series. Ford North America continued to offer a pickup body style on the Ford Model 51, and the Ford Australian division produced the first Australian "ute" in 1932. In 1940, Ford offered a dedicated light-duty truck platform called the Ford F100, then upgraded the platform after World War II to the Ford F-Series in 1948.


title: Pickup truck

text: Dodge at first assumed heavier truck production from Graham-Paige, while the company produced their own light (pickup) trucks, initially on their sufficiently sturdy passenger car frames. But after switching to distinct, dedicated truck frames in 1936, Dodge/Fargo launched an extensive own truck range for 1939, marketed as the 'Job-Rated' trucks. These Art-Deco styled trucks were again continued after WW II.


title: Pickup truck

text: International Harvester offered the International K and KB series, which were marketed towards construction and farming and did not have a strong retail consumer presence, and Studebaker also manufactured the M-series truck. At the beginning of World War II, the United States government halted the production of privately owned pickup trucks, and all American manufacturers built heavy duty trucks for the war effort.


title: Pickup truck

text: In the 1950s, consumers began purchasing pickups for lifestyle rather than utilitarian reasons. Car-like, smooth-sided, fenderless trucks were introduced, such as the Chevrolet Fleetside, the Chevrolet El Camino, the Dodge Sweptline, and in 1957, Ford's purpose-built Styleside. Pickups began to feature comfort items such as power options and air conditioning. During this time, pickups with four doors, known as a crew cab, started to become popular. These pickup trucks were released in 1954 in Japan with the Toyota Stout, in 1957 in Japan with the Datsun 220, and in 1957 in America with the International Travelette. Other manufactures soon followed, including the Hino Briska in 1962, Dodge in 1963, Ford in 1965, and General Motors in 1973.


title: Pickup truck

text: In 1963, the U.S. chicken tax directly curtailed the import of the Volkswagen Type 2, distorting the market in favor of U.S. manufacturers. The tariff directly affected any country seeking to bring light trucks into the United States and effectively "squeezed smaller Asian truck companies out of the American pickup market." Over the intervening years, Detroit lobbied to protect the light-truck tariff, thereby reducing pressure on Detroit to introduce vehicles that polluted less and that offered increased fuel economy.


title: Pickup truck

text: The U.S. government's 1973 Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) policy set higher fuel-economy requirements for cars than pickups. CAFE led to the replacement of the station wagon by the minivan, the latter of which belonged in the truck category, which allowed it compliance with less strict emissions standards. Eventually, CAFE led to the promotion of sport utility vehicles (SUVs). Pickups, unhindered by the emissions controls regulations on cars, began to replace muscle cars as the performance vehicle of choice. The Dodge Warlock appeared in Dodge's "adult toys" line, along with the Macho Power Wagon and Street Van. The 1978 gas guzzler tax, which taxed fuel-inefficient cars while exempting pickup trucks, further distorted the market in favor of pickups. Furthermore, until 1999, light trucks were not required to meet the same safety standards as cars and 20 years later most still lagged behind cars in the adoption of safety features.


title: Pickup truck

text: In the 1980s, the compact Mazda B-series, Isuzu Faster, and Mitsubishi Forte appeared. Subsequently, U.S. manufacturers built their own compact pickups for the domestic market, including the Ford Ranger, and the Chevrolet S-10. Minivans make inroads into the pickups' market share. In the 1990s, pickups' market share was further eroded by the popularity of SUVs.


title: Pickup truck

text: Mid-sized electric trucks had been tried early in the 20th century but soon lost out to gasoline and diesel vehicles. In 1997 the Chevrolet S-10 EV was released, but few were sold, and those were mostly to fleet operators.


title: Pickup truck

text: While the Ford F-150 has been the best-selling vehicle in the United States since 1982, the Ford F-150, or indeed any full-sized pickup truck, is a rare sight in Europe, where high fuel prices and narrow city roads make it difficult to use daily. In the United States, pickups are favored by a cultural attachment to the style, low fuel prices, and taxes and regulations that distort the market in favor of domestically built trucks. As of 2016, the IRS offers tax breaks for business use of "any vehicle equipped with a cargo area ... of at least six feet in interior length that is not readily accessible from the passenger compartment".


title: Pickup truck

text: In Europe, pickups represent less than 1% of light vehicles sold, the most popular being the Ford Ranger with 27,300 units sold in 2015. Other models include the Renault Alaskan (a rebadged Nissan Navara), and the Toyota Hilux.


title: Pickup truck

text: The NOx law and other differing regulations prevent pickups from being imported to Japan, but the Japanese Domestic Market Mitsubishi Triton was available for a limited time. The most recent pickup truck on sale in Japan is the Toyota Hilux.


title: Pickup truck

text: In China (where it is known by the English loanword as 皮卡车 pí kǎ chē), the Great Wall Wingle is manufactured domestically and exported to Australia. In Thailand, pickups manufactured for local sale and export include the Isuzu D-Max and the Mitsubishi Triton. In Latin and South America, the Toyota Hilux, Ford Ranger, VW Amarok, Dodge Ram, Chevrolet S-10, Chevrolet D-20, and Chevrolet Montana are sold.


title: Pickup truck

text: In South Africa, pickups account for about 17% of the passenger and light commercial vehicle sales, mostly the Toyota Hilux, Ford Ranger, and Isuzu KB (Isuzu D-Max). The Volkswagen Amarok and Nissan Navara are also sold.


title: Pickup truck

text: In the United States and Canada, nearly all new pickups are sold with automatic transmissions. Only the Jeep Gladiator and the Toyota Tacoma are available with manual transmissions.


title: Pickup truck

text: A regular cab has a single row of seats and a single set of doors, one on each side. Extended or super cab pickups add an extra space behind the main seat, sometimes including smaller "jump" seats. The first extended cab truck in the United States was called the Club Cab and was introduced by Chrysler in 1973 on Dodge pickup trucks. Modern extended cab trucks have a set of small rear doors that are rear-hinged, such as the Ford F-series and Nissan Titan, and they can only be opened after the front doors are open. Other modern extended-cab trucks have small conventional rear doors such as the Ram Pickup and Toyota Tundra. A crew cab, or double cab, seats five or six and has four full-sized, front-hinged doors. The first crew cab truck in the United States was made by International Harvester in 1957, and was later followed by Dodge in 1963, Ford in 1965, and Chevrolet in 1973.


title: Pickup truck

text: Cab-over or cab forward designs have the cab sitting above the front axle. This arrangement allows a longer cargo area for the same overall length. An early cab-forward, drop-sided pickup was the Volkswagen Transporter, introduced in 1952. This configuration is more common among European and Japanese manufacturers than in North America. The design was more popular in North America in the 1950s and '60s, with examples including the Chevrolet Corvair Rampside and Loadside, Dodge A-100 and A-108, Ford Econoline, and Jeep FC-150 and FC-170.


title: Pickup truck

text: The cargo bed can vary in size according to whether the vehicle is optimized for cargo utility or passenger comfort. Most have fixed side walls and a hinged tailgate. Cargo beds are normally found in two styles: step side or fleet side. A step-side bed has fenders that extend on the outside of the cargo area. A fleet-side bed has wheel wells inside the bed. The first fleet-sided truck was the 1955 Chevrolet Cameo Carrier. Early trucks had wood-plank beds, which were largely replaced by steel by the 1960s. Some European-style trucks use a drop-sided bed with a flat tray with hinged panels rising up on the sides and the rear.


title: Pickup truck

text: A "dually" is a North American colloquial term for a pickup with four rear wheels instead of two, able to carry more weight over the rear axle. Vehicles similar to the pickup include the coupé utility, a car-based pickup, and the larger sport utility truck (SUT), based on a sport utility vehicle (SUV).


title: Pickup truck

text: The terms half-ton and three-quarter-ton are remnants from a time when the number referred to the maximum cargo capacity by weight.