Howard's cabinet was burnt out towards the end of his rule and the passing of years won't rescind that. Abbott also wants Howard as our next GG to mentor him. I can't think of anyone worse than a neo-conservative ex prime-minister being appointed to a position of such power - especially a megalomaniac. Abbott might very well lose the next election if he keeps on spruiking his fantasies.
Tony Abbott has promised to return Australia to the "golden age" of the Howard government under his "incoming Coalition government".
The tradition of the Howard government would live on, Mr Abbott declared, in no small part because of the similarities between his frontbench and Mr Howard's ministerial team.
"Sixteen members of my frontbench were ministers in the Howard government," Mr Abbott said.
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"We won't have to learn on the job because we have done the job before. There won't be questions about the judgment of an incoming Coalition government because an incoming Coalition government has shown good judgment in the past and that's where there is going to be such a contrast between an incoming Coalition government and the government that we currently have."
The number of former Howard government ministers on the frontbench could increase after the next election if Mal Brough, who served as the minister for indigenous affairs, is successful in his bid to return to federal politics.
Mr Abbott, who once described himself as the political love child of Mr Howard and the Liberal MP Bronwyn Bishop, has previously been criticised for the number of long-serving MPs he has kept on his frontbench at the expense of up-and-comers.
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