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JOE HOCKEY 'WON'T TRUST MALCOLM AGAIN', WIFE SAYS
Sydney Morning Herald, Australia
July 19 2014
by Madonna King
PRIME MINISTER Tony Abbott sacked Treasury head Martin Parkinson a week
after last year's election, without telling his Treasurer Joe Hockey.
And Hockey only found out Parkinson's employment had been terminated
after he was told by his Treasury boss.
The revelation is included a a new biography of Joe Hockey - Hockey:
Not Your Average Joe - to be released next week, and it shows the
carefully managed veneer of unity that binds the Abbott cabinet.
It details deep-seated tensions between Hockey and Industry Minister
Ian Macfarlane, as well as the tensions between the Treasurer and
his former leader Malcolm Turnbull who Hockey believes wronged him
in the ballot that led to the election of Tony Abbott as leader.
Hockey says he is still still learning to trust Turnbull - but won't
write him off forever.
His wife Melissa Babbage reveals more, saying "There will always be
distrust there."
"Joe always starts off very trusting of people - in my opinion
sometimes too trusting," Ms Babbage says.
"His starting position is always positive. But after the leadership
thing (the 2009 Liberal leadership vote), that really annoyed Joe
and he won't trust Malcolm again."
Former prime minister John Howard, among many others, says it was
Hockey's decision to allow party members a conscience vote on the
ETS that cost him the leadership in 2009.
"You've got to have a position," Howard says. "If Turnbull had put
keeping the party together ahead of policy purity he probably would
have remained leader.
"Only Abbott was able to undermine Rudd in the way he did. If the
ballot had gone another way I'm not sure we'd now be in office."
Hockey: Not Your Average Joe reveals the effort both Hockey and Abbott
apply to their relationship after Abbott snatched the leadership in
what the Treasurer believed was almost a certain victory for him.
But that relationship has been tested by a number of events, including
the PM's paid paternity leave scheme, the government's response
to Qantas and what measures should remain in the budget that was
eventually handed down.
Abbott's decision to sack Martin Parkinson without telling his
Treasurer before or after the event also surprised Hockey.
But he says he accepted the dismissal of the Treasury secretary he
wanted to keep, as being a "prime minister's call", just as Abbott
accepted his decision to bar the foreign takeover of GrainCorp as
being the Treasurer's judgment to make.
Hockey reveals the shenanigans behind the scenes in the US food
processing giant Archer Daniels Midland's (ADM) bid to take over
GrainCorp, saying the company had used strong-arm tactics to get its
way - later prompting a hand-written apology from its CEO Patricia
Woertz.
And it is sure to stoke a further leadership debate with Hockey -
who almost quit politics to take up a job in the US - saying he will
not spend another stint in opposition.
The biography - which Hockey cooperated on - traces his background
as the son of a Bondi beauty queen and a Palestinian Armenian migrant
who had grown up in a war zone.
Debuting on the federal political stage at the age of 29, Hockey's
failures and triumphs are chronicled, along with the discussions
that went on behind the scenes leading up to the budget, and the
Treasurer's lifelong battle with his weight.
http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/joe-hockey-wont-trust-malcolm-again-wife-says-20140718-zug0r.html
From: Baghdasarian
Sydney Morning Herald, Australia
July 19 2014
by Madonna King
PRIME MINISTER Tony Abbott sacked Treasury head Martin Parkinson a week
after last year's election, without telling his Treasurer Joe Hockey.
And Hockey only found out Parkinson's employment had been terminated
after he was told by his Treasury boss.
The revelation is included a a new biography of Joe Hockey - Hockey:
Not Your Average Joe - to be released next week, and it shows the
carefully managed veneer of unity that binds the Abbott cabinet.
It details deep-seated tensions between Hockey and Industry Minister
Ian Macfarlane, as well as the tensions between the Treasurer and
his former leader Malcolm Turnbull who Hockey believes wronged him
in the ballot that led to the election of Tony Abbott as leader.
Hockey says he is still still learning to trust Turnbull - but won't
write him off forever.
His wife Melissa Babbage reveals more, saying "There will always be
distrust there."
"Joe always starts off very trusting of people - in my opinion
sometimes too trusting," Ms Babbage says.
"His starting position is always positive. But after the leadership
thing (the 2009 Liberal leadership vote), that really annoyed Joe
and he won't trust Malcolm again."
Former prime minister John Howard, among many others, says it was
Hockey's decision to allow party members a conscience vote on the
ETS that cost him the leadership in 2009.
"You've got to have a position," Howard says. "If Turnbull had put
keeping the party together ahead of policy purity he probably would
have remained leader.
"Only Abbott was able to undermine Rudd in the way he did. If the
ballot had gone another way I'm not sure we'd now be in office."
Hockey: Not Your Average Joe reveals the effort both Hockey and Abbott
apply to their relationship after Abbott snatched the leadership in
what the Treasurer believed was almost a certain victory for him.
But that relationship has been tested by a number of events, including
the PM's paid paternity leave scheme, the government's response
to Qantas and what measures should remain in the budget that was
eventually handed down.
Abbott's decision to sack Martin Parkinson without telling his
Treasurer before or after the event also surprised Hockey.
But he says he accepted the dismissal of the Treasury secretary he
wanted to keep, as being a "prime minister's call", just as Abbott
accepted his decision to bar the foreign takeover of GrainCorp as
being the Treasurer's judgment to make.
Hockey reveals the shenanigans behind the scenes in the US food
processing giant Archer Daniels Midland's (ADM) bid to take over
GrainCorp, saying the company had used strong-arm tactics to get its
way - later prompting a hand-written apology from its CEO Patricia
Woertz.
And it is sure to stoke a further leadership debate with Hockey -
who almost quit politics to take up a job in the US - saying he will
not spend another stint in opposition.
The biography - which Hockey cooperated on - traces his background
as the son of a Bondi beauty queen and a Palestinian Armenian migrant
who had grown up in a war zone.
Debuting on the federal political stage at the age of 29, Hockey's
failures and triumphs are chronicled, along with the discussions
that went on behind the scenes leading up to the budget, and the
Treasurer's lifelong battle with his weight.
http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/joe-hockey-wont-trust-malcolm-again-wife-says-20140718-zug0r.html
From: Baghdasarian