Sport always seemed to be at the top of most Australian's minds in summer. The cricket was ever-present and the Australian Open tennis attracted crowds to please the organiser's, Tennis Australia. Politics had to wait to regain its position as the media focus for daily news.
Tony Abbott couldn't wait. He had agreed to an interview with The Australian Women's Weekly, with a readership the envy of most women's magazines. Even the newspaper reported the story's appearance and select quotes from Abbott. He had been open and honest and discussed women's issues. But who would have thought that an interview with The Weekly and his thoughts on sex would threaten to return Abbott's campaign to the starting line?
Abbott had been reported as saying that a woman's virginity was a "gift." The talkback radio stations ran hot with the news for days.
Had Abbott, a man with three daughter one could be forgiven for describing as 'attractive,' said this merely to gain publicity prior to the opening of the first parliamentary session for the year? Or was it to maintain his position 'front and centre' in Australian politics? Some believe that all publicity is good publicity and that there's nothing worse when in a leadership role, and a political one at that, not to have the media talking about you. But the view that gained most coverage was from those who could be heard saying: 'Tony, what were you thinking?'
Mind you, anyone with three daughters as Abbott had could be forgiven for wanting to keep a pretty close watch on who they were seeing and when. A father can sometimes be overprotective of the ones he loves, especially in the eyes of others.
The eyes of others are sometimes anything but objective. A bit of personal research never goes astray in such circumstances. And in picking up and reading The Australian Women's Weekly after its publication, one quickly came across the article on Abbott and his family.
Some had described the article as 'fascinating' and 'very personal,' especially in reference to the section including the word "gift", quoted in the papers from shore to shore. It read:
"Sex before marriage? 'It happens,' he says, before adding, 'I think I would say to my daughters if they were to ask me this question...it is the greatest gift of giving and don't give it to someone lightly, that is what I would say.'"
Hmm, how best to interpret a comment such as this? One could be forgiven for thinking he what he meant was that sex is something that should be meaningful, so don't sleep around with just anyone. Others may disagree, but the media's use of the word virginity is a classic example of guaranteeing the greatest possible reaction to a comment considered even by an experienced politician as somewhat innocent.
But consider this article, entitled 'Hypocrite' Abbott panned for virginity stance,' from January 27, published in The Age and attributed to Michelle Gratton and Geoff Strong:
"Comedian Fiona Scott-Norman said that if one were to look in the dictionary under 'hypocrite', there would be a picture of Mr Abbott. ''Yet another self-acknowledged one-time drug-taking, 'Vatican roulette' playing, shagabout, white, middle-aged male telling young women not to do what he did when he was their age.
''The irony is that the one thing guaranteed to make 'young people' do something is for a pompous tosspot like Tony to tell them not to.''
"Latrobe University sex education expert Associate Professor Anne Mitchell said Mr Abbott's pronouncement was nonsense."
As Editor-in-Chief Helen McCabe says in her editorial, "honesty can be a bit of a handicap."
Ain't that the truth?
Even the honesty of one's own daughter can sometimes serve as an embarrassment to a father in the public eye. The comment attributed to Abbott's daughter, Frances, that her Dad was a "lame, gay, churchie loser" was interesting and humorous to say the least. She immediately stole my attention and became a "cult hero", as The Weekly suggested some had described her, for her erudite and creative turn of phrase.
There's no-one like family to make sure a public figure feeling his feet in a new leadership role keeps them firmly on the ground.
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