One of the defining characteristics of Tony Abbott’s brief time as prime minister was Labor’s absolute refusal to cut him a break — it opposed pretty much everything he proposed, leaving vast swathes of the 2014 budget mired in the Senate. It was payback for Abbott’s relentless negativity when he was in opposition — especially in cases where he put forward measures in government he’d opposed in opposition, like cuts to Family Tax Benefit payments. It eventually led Barnaby Joyce to publicly wonder whether, just maybe, the Coalition hadn’t been a little too negative in opposition.
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