Tony abbott vs bill shorten biography

Bill Shorten may have dragged Labor back from the abyss to become a genuine competitor, but time is running out for him to find a policy vision, just as it is for Tony Abbott, writes Mungo MacCallum.

So this is where the story really starts.

True, we have not quite finished the silly season: Australia Day and the tennis are yet to be negotiated.

But Tony Abbott is now officially back at work. He emerged in western Sydney, looking less refreshed than sullen and somewhat sallow, to talk about roads; naturally, the press gallery wanted to talk to him about almost everything else.

How Abbott used a royal commission to hurt Shorten - and why ...

It was not a joyous reunion.

Of course, he has never really been away; his holidays were interrupted by fires in South Australia, a funeral in Cairns, and his first flip flop of the year over Medicare. But at least the vacation gave him an excuse to avoid Queensland Premier Campbell Newman's campaign launch.

(The Prime Minister has since confirmed he w