http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/political-news/will-the-real-tony-please-stand-...

'A lot of my friends think Tony Abbott is appalling," says Lesley Podesta. She can understand why. She was one of his opponents on the Student Representative Council of Sydney University and saw him up close, when he was playing aggressive politics against the left.

But the surprise for Podesta was what she learnt about Abbott when they next crossed paths. She rose to become a senior official in the federal Department of Health when Abbott was minister. Podesta found herself working with him.

"A lot of people think he's hairy-chested and makes an immediate decision, but he wasn't like that," says Podesta, who now works with the Fred Hollows Foundation for preventing blindness. "He does have his immediate political and ideological centre but so does every minister. He is open to evidence. He was a thoughtful minister. He would have quite an intense process of investigating and then going with the evidence. I found him genuinely open and committed to positive reform."

Such as?

"When Mal Brough was beating his chest and being macho about the Northern Territory intervention into Aboriginal communities, Abbott was health minister. He was open to supporting innovative, long-term work helping new mothers form better attachment to their children."

It was new policy, it promised no short-run returns and it was out of line with the stern political mood of quasi-military emergency. But Abbott committed to it regardless, a new program called the Nurse Family Partnership, which is operating in three communities today, says Podesta, who was a senior official at the Office for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health, among other appointments.

"All the work that's been done shows that it's remarkably effective in everything from cutting levels of child abuse to improving school retention rates, but it's a 10-year to 15-year initiative."

So while many of her friends are appalled at what they know of Tony Abbott, Podesta is genuinely appreciative of her time working with him. "He was very polite, very considerate, he's very sensible about taking advice, he had a really good relationship with the Health Department and he was a very easy minister to work with … and I've worked with a lot of ministers," says Podesta, who was also a board member of the NSW Rape Crisis Centre, among other things.

Maqqa wrote on Feb 25^th, 2013 at 9:20am:



No read the article myself Saturday, & thought about creating a thread around it, but I knew you would & was keen to see what tact you'd take.

If Tony displayed more of these positive characteristics then we would not be debating his fitness for PM.

However reading the article you come away with a distinct Jekyll & Hyde feeling.

Which one will the PM be today????
Should we even have to ask that sort of question of our PM?

Dsmithy70 wrote on Feb 25^th, 2013 at 9:28am:




are you telling us you are a one dimentional person smithy?? tut tut...

everyone of us has different persona.. whos kidding who.would you really arrive for an interview in your garden clothes. and mode...

of course you wouldnt..we present different when we are on parade..

she claims as Health Minister he listened he took on board what others were contributing..

isnt that exactly what got rudd into trouble.. he wouldnt listen.. he knew it all..

ABbott could very well end up being a worse PM than gillard... [ god he will have to try hard].. but at least give him a go..

when they talk about people being appalled by Tony...

is it what they have read about Tony that appalls. them?? in other words there must be a nasty media out there dogging Abbott...

to hear you lot talking the media is only  against gillard & Co..

Maqqa wrote on Feb 25^th, 2013 at 10:14am:


Once again the hypocrisy leaves me shaking my head.

How many times have I seen that Gillard was a secretary of some Socialist front & therefore is still a commie.