Malcolm Turnbull rebukes Tony Abbott for being ‘too drunk’

Australia’s prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, has taken his predecessor, Tony Abbott, to task for being too drunk to vote on an economic stimulus package legislated during the global financial crisis.

The old story has been revived courtesy of an ABC television documentary about life in Canberra’s Parliament House, in which Abbott admitted on camera that he fell asleep and didn’t vote after a boozy dinner with two colleagues.

The drunken events of 2009 happened when Turnbull was still the leader of the then opposition Liberal party, and the then Labor government was in the process of legislating stimulus packages. While the stimulus packages were controversial, because of their $52bn price tag, Australia was one of the few economies in the developed world to avoid a recession.

Turnbull was asked about Abbott’s antics in 2009 on a regular radio interview he does. The PM said he was fully aware at the time that Abbott was unable to be roused in his office. “It’s clearly not acceptable or admirable in any way,” he told the broadcaster Neil Mitchell on 3AW radio on Friday.

Abbott, for his part, has laughed off the lapse. “There was one famous occasion when Peter Costello, Kevin Andrews and I hung out rather a long time here,” he says in an upcoming episode of the ABC television series The House. “I think quite a few bottles of wine were consumed by the three of us. Peter was close to leaving at that stage, and I think all of us were in a mellow and reflective mood, so the reflections went on for longer, and later, than they should have.” He said he returned to his office and bunked down on a couch. “The next thing I knew it was the morning,” he said.

Abbott’s casual recounting of the story in contemporary times contrasts with an effort he made at the time to characterise the tale as apocryphal. When asked at the time to explain why he had missed the votes, Abbott dismissed as impertinent questions about whether he had been inebriated in his office.

Turnbull said that Abbott had missed an important vote and, while he was disappointed in his colleague, he had moved on. But he noted somewhat pointedly that Abbott’s behaviour was highly unusual. “I can’t remember anyone else missing a vote because they were too drunk to get into the chamber,” Turnbull said. (Courtesy The Guardian, UK)