"Abbott is poison" - Victorian Lieberal election campaigners

Abbott is being kept away from the Lieberal Victorian election campaign. Voters will toss out the Lieberal Victorian gov this Sat after only one term. Lieberal campaigners have called Abbott poison.

Seriously, why haven't the Lieberals turfed him by now? Oh yeah, they're completely out of touch.....

“He’s box office poison,’’ a Liberal campaign strategist said. “It’s not the sole reason we’re in trouble of course, but Tony Abbott and the Abbott Government is a piece of the pie. 

“The higher education reforms are just killing us. “The $100,000 degree thing has just stuck. It’s common knowledge that after the federal budget a lot of the state candidates were told in May to get out of field. They were told to stop campaigning. It was counter-productive. They stopped door-knocking.’’ 

Mr Abbott has visited Victoria just three times during the campaign. 

Last week he travelled to Melbourne to attend a dinner for visiting Indian Prime Minster Narendra Modi, but he did not campaign. 

Mr Abbott also appeared at a closed event on November 8 for the media to announce a $250 million upgrade of the Tullamarine Freeway. 

Previously, he announced a joint police taskforce into Industrial Criminality and Corruption on October 31. 

During the event, there was an awkward hug between Mr Abbott and Mr Napthine that prompted one of the Victorian Premier’s staffers to say, “Oh s---’’, in front of reporters, a moment that was recorded on a journalist’s tape recorder. 

Asked about the pair’s relationship, Mr Napthine said at the press conference that he had a “positive relationship”, before the Prime Minister put his arms around him and squeezed him in a hug. more