Abbott’s dig laughed off by Turnbull

MALCOLM Turnbull has brushed off another swipe from former prime minister Tony Abbott, this time over the Prime Minister’s decision to delay parliament by a week.

The PM laughed as he was asked by Today Show host Karl Stefanovic yesterday about Mr Abbott’s latest dig.

“Talking of loyal, Tony Abbott, he’s always calm, rational, logical and loyal,” Stefanovic said before asking about Mr Turnbull’s response to Mr Abbott’s comments on Tuesday night.

Mr Abbott had told Sky News: “You might not always want to go back to parliament, but you always have to go back to parliament, because that’s your job,”

Mr Turnbull responded: “All we have done is take the two weeks of sittings that were scheduled from 27th of November and moved them forward a week to start on the fourth of December ... because one of the things we want to do is deliver on the commitment to legislate same-sex marriage before the end of the year.”

Mr Turnbull was then grilled over whether the delay was actually because the government was in a dangerous position in the lower house, with former deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce and Liberal former MP John Alexander out fighting by-elections – Mr Joyce on December 2 and Mr Alexander on December 16.

He denied the claim, which Labor, the Greens and crossbench MPs have argued is the real reason for the delay since its announcement on Monday.

“That’s absolutely not true,” Mr Turnbull said.

“We won’t have Barnaby Joyce or John Alexander back in the House in the week beginning the fourth.”

Mr Abbott had also hit out at the “toxic egos” in politics while speaking to Sky News.

Asked about the fallout from the dual citizenship crisis, Mr Abbott said individuals were to blame.

“If I may say so, I think perhaps on both sides of the parliament it’s been the era of toxic egos and I think this has been part of our problem,” he said.

“Too many people have put themselves first and not their country.”

The outspoken backbencher, who has been described as having an “ego as big as Phar Lap’s heart”, did not specify whether he was part of the problem.