Tony Abbott certainly won’t go down in Australian history as one of the country’s finest Prime Ministers, regardless of how much he tries to convince us otherwise. But the one thing he will go down in history for is being mates with convicted pedophile, Cardinal George Pell.
Ol’ mate Tones was spotted leaving Melbourne Assessment Prison, which is where Pell is incarcerated and certainly isn’t a common hangout place for former onion-munching PMs. When asked what on earth was he doing there, Abbott didn’t mention George Pell by name and only said “I was simply visiting a friend, that’s all.”
Now Tony Abbott has dropped the ball quite a few times over the years, but there’s simply no way to spin this visit into anything other than grubby behaviour.
Putting aside just how inappropriate it is for a former Australian Prime Minister to visit a convicted pedophile in prison, Abbott’s visit to Pell is nothing more than an abhorrent middle finger to all of the cardinal’s victims.
Unsurprisingly, this visit didn’t go down well with some people and former Victorian senator Derryn Hinch had some strong words for Abbott on Twitter.
We’ve come to expect shenanigans from Tony Abbott at this point and sadly, him visiting George Pell isn’t that big of a surprise.
Tones has been mates with the convicted pedophile for years and has repeatedly stood up for Pell. When Pell was convicted in February 2019, Abbott reportedly called up his cardinal mate afterwards before going on radio to call the guilty verdict a “shocking result.”
But the bad optics and inappropriateness of this visit will likely fall on deaf ears for ol’ mate Tones as it’s been made abundantly clear over the years that he doesn’t really give a crap what people think or who he associates himself with, especially since he’s comfortably retired from politics now.
Tony Abbott didn’t say anything about his visit to George Pell but he doesn’t really have to. Actions speak louder than words ever could.