Tony Abbot likens himself to a 'benched footballer'

Former Prime Minister Tony Abbott visited Burnie on April 30. He spoke with The Advocate's Sean Ford.

Transcript

00:00You were a very successful campaigner as an opposition leader.

00:04Now, when the coalition in this campaign, or indeed in the last couple of campaigns, makes missteps,

00:11is that frustrating to you?

00:13Do you find yourself wanting to ring up campaign headquarters and say,

00:16hey guys, or do you actually do that?

00:19Or do you sort of keep your nose out of that side of it?

00:22Sean, I've often likened myself to a benched footballer who's sitting in the stands watching the game.

00:32And inevitably, there's a tendency to shout at the players on the field.

00:37Sometimes, even occasionally, you might think that you could have done better than the players on the field.

00:42But, but, it's important to respect the fact that they have got to do their job as best they can.

00:50And I try to respect that.

00:52And if occasionally they invite me into the team room for a pre-game pep talk or a post-game pep talk,

01:02well, I confine myself to that.

01:05So, we don't get a bit of, well, in my day, we never handled it in the back line.

01:11I think it's, what's the phrase?

01:13Think it, don't say it.