Is Tony Abbott's time up?

When economist Nick Scott retired, he expected his days to take on a peaceful rhythm. He would read. Go fishing. Spend time with his grandchildren. He did not envisage staging political protests while wearing an inflatable dinosaur suit but, well, life is full of surprises. "It's been liberating," he says of joining a grassroots movement to remove former prime minister Tony Abbott from Federal Parliament. "I thought, 'It's time to actually do something rather than just shouting at the television.' “

Some traditionally right-leaning voters are joining locals
in Sydney’s Warringah in turning against their long-time
federal Liberal MP.

Scott, 64, has lived for 30 years in the northern Sydney electorate of Warringah, held by Abbott for the Liberal Party for a quarter of a century. Though now a backbencher, Abbott, 61, is still the driving force behind the Coalition government's hard-right faction. Whether he retains his seat at the looming federal election could depend on the effectiveness of a campaign against him by a collection of small community groups that, as Scott puts it, "have simply popped up like mushrooms in the night". Some of them have thrown their support behind Zali Steggall, the world-champion skier turned barrister who is running against Abbott as an independent. But the groups are bound less by allegiance to any one candidate than an aversion to the sitting member. In Warringah, they are known unofficially as the ABBA (Any Bastard But Abbott) alliance.

Read the story from The Age by Jane Cadzow - “Is Tony Abbott's time up?”

(Listen to Zali Steggall on “Climate Conversations”)