Tony Abbott

**Anthony John "Tony" Abbott** (born 4 November 1957) is an Australian politician, who was Prime Minister of Australia from September 2013 until September 2015, serving for just under 2 years. He became the leader of the Liberal Party, taking over from Malcolm Turnbull on 1 December 2009, and was in turn succeeded by Turnbull as Liberal leader and Prime Minister on 15 September 2015. He lost his parliament seat in the 2019 election.

## Early life

Abbott was born in London, England to an Australian mother; her father was Dutch; her mother was Welsh. Abbott's father was born in Newcastle upon Tyne, moved to Australia during the Second World War and is an unconfirmed naturalized Australian citizen. Abbott was raised in Sydney, Australia and is a Roman Catholic. He studied economics and law at Sydney University, and then did a Master of Arts in politics and philosophy at Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar. When he came back to Australia he entered St. Patricks Seminary in Manly where he began training as a priest. He did not complete his priest training and in 1990 he started work as a journalist writing for the Bulletin magazine and the Australian newspaper From 1990-1993 Abbott worked as press secretary and an advisor to Dr. John Hewson, who was the Leader of the Opposition. He then worked as the executive director of Australians for a Constitutional Monarchy. He was elected to the Federal Parliament for the Division of Warringah in a by-election in 1994 after Michael McKellar resigned.

## Politics

in 1998, Prime Minister John Howard made Abbott the Minister for Employment Services and in 2001 was promoted to Minister for Employment, Workplace Relations and Small Business. In 2003 Abbott was the Minister for Health and Ageing, and Leader of the House of Representatives in the Federal Parliament.  After the defeat of the Howard Government in 2007 he was Shadow Minister for Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs. He resigned on 26 November 2009 in protest against Liberal Party policy on climate change. He then defeated the leader Malcolm Turnbull by only one vote in a Liberal Party leadership election on 1 December 2009.

## Opposition leader

Abbott led the party to the 2010 Federal Election. Following the narrow victory of the Australian Labor Party, Abbott was re-elected leader of the Liberal Party and remained Leader of the Opposition.

## Prime Minister

At the 2013 federal election on 7 September, Abbott led the Coalition to victory and became Prime Minister on 18 September 2013. Abbott is no longer prime minister of Australia and has been succeeded by Malcolm Turnbull. In September 2017 Abbott declared that government should end all the subsidies for renewable energy, coal.

## Beliefs

Abbott has always held strong conservative and religious views and has not been afraid to speak out on controversial issues. Combined with his earlier training as a priest this has led to his being given the nickname of the "Mad Monk". Abbott for example does not support the right of women to have an abortion. As Minister for Health he created a huge protest in 2006 when he tried to ban a drug used for abortions. In 2012 he was criticised by Australian lawyer Julian Burnside for saying that refugees trying to reach Australia were acting in an un-Christian way. Abbott's policies for the 2013 Australian election includes a plan to stop refugee boats coming to Australia. He does not support marriage equality which would let same sex couples get married.

## Personal life

Abbott is a very keen sportsman, and regularly takes part in competitions. He is currently in training for the 2014 Port Macquarie Ironman contest. This is a race with a 3m swim, 180 km bicycle ride, and finishing with a 42.2 km run. Abbott is married with three daughters.

## Other websites

- Tony Abbott's website

## Infobox (officeholder)

- **honorific-prefix**: The Honourable
- **name**: Tony Abbott
- **honorific-suffix**: Member of Parliament, MP
- **image**: File:Prime Minister Tony Abbott.jpg
- **caption**: official portrait, 2013
- **office**: List of Prime Ministers of Australia, 28th Prime Minister of Australia
- **monarch**: Elizabeth II
- **governor-general**: Quentin Bryce
Peter Cosgrove
- **deputy**: Warren Truss
- **term start**: 18 September 2013
- **term end**: 15 September 2015
- **predecessor**: Kevin Rudd
- **successor**: Malcolm Turnbull
- **office1**: Leader of the Liberal Party of Australia, Liberal Party
- **deputy1**: Julie Bishop
- **term start1**: 1 December 2009
- **term end1**: 14 September 2015
- **predecessor1**: Malcolm Turnbull
- **successor1**: Malcolm Turnbull
- **office2**: List of Australian Leaders of the Opposition, Leader of the Opposition
- **deputy2**: Julie Bishop
- **term start2**: 1 December 2009
- **term end2**: 18 September 2013
- **predecessor2**: Malcolm Turnbull
- **successor2**: Chris Bowen
- **office3**: Minister for Health (Australia), Minister for Health and Ageing
- **primeminister3**: John Howard
- **term start3**: 7 October 2003
- **term end3**: 3 December 2007
- **predecessor3**: Kay Patterson
- **successor3**: Nicola Roxon
- **office4**: Leader of the House (Australia), Leader of the House
- **term start4**: 26 November 2001
- **term end4**: 3 December 2007
- **primeminister4**: John Howard
- **predecessor4**: Peter Reith
- **successor4**: Anthony Albanese
- **office5**: Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Public Service
- **primeminister5**: John Howard
- **term start5**: 26 November 2001
- **term end5**: 7 October 2003
- **predecessor5**: David Kemp (politician), David Kemp
- **successor5**: Kevin Andrews (Australian politician), Kevin Andrews
- **office6**: Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations (Australia), Minister for Employment, Workplace Relations and Small Business
- **primeminister6**: John Howard
- **term start6**: 21 October 1998
- **term end6**: 7 October 2003
- **predecessor6**: Peter Reith
- **successor6**: Kevin Andrews (Australian politician), Kevin Andrews
- **office7**: 10th Commonwealth Chairperson-in-Office, Chairperson of the Commonwealth of Nations
- **term start7**: 18 September 2013
- **term end7**: 15 November 2013
- **predecessor7**: Kevin Rudd
- **successor7**: Mahinda Rajapaksa
- **constituency mp8**: Division of Warringah, Warringah
- **parliament8**: Australian
- **term start8**: 26 March 1994
- **term end8**: 18 May 2019
- **predecessor8**: Michael MacKellar
- **successor8**: Zali Steggall
- **majority8**: 27,421 (15.35%)
- **birth name**: Anthony John Abbott
- **birth place**: London, United Kingdom
- **party**: Liberal Party of Australia, Liberal
- **otherparty**: Coalition (Australia), Coalition
- **nationality**: Australian nationality, Australian
- **spouse**: Margie Abbott, Margie Aitken
- **children**: 3
- **residence**: Kirribilli House
Australian Federal Police College
- **alma mater**: St John's College, University of Sydney, University of Sydney
The Queen's College, Oxford, Queen's College, Oxford
St Patrick's Seminary, St Patrick's Seminary, Manly
- **signature**: Tony Abbott Signature.svg
- **website**: [http://www.pm.gov.au/ Prime Minister's website]
[http://www.tonyabbott.com.au/ Official website]