Apparently I’m anti Tony Abbott. That’s awkward.

So I’m talking to Helen McCabe, editor of the Australian Women’s Weekly. Because that job (and hosting a political show on Sky news) is not demanding enough, she also interviewed Tony Abbott for the major feature running in the current issue.

To backtrack for a second, the day Abbott was elected leader of the opposition, I wrote a fairly impulsive post and pressed ‘publish’ before I could, you know, completely check my facts. Ahem.

At this point, for further explanation, I’ll hand over to The Punch editor and newspaper columnist David Penberthy who wrote about it in The Australian the following weekend….

Less than 24 hours into his life as Opposition Leader and Abbott has already endured his first high-voltage pizzling in cyberspace. I reckon his staff would have been too busy reading the papers and following the radio and TV reports to realise it even happened.

The piece came courtesy of independent blogger and Fairfax columnist Mia Freedman, who is not an ideologue but a smart, modern, inner-city feminist chick who juggles motherhood and marriage with an extraordinarily prolific writing career.

She runs the juggernaut blog site www.mamamia.com.au and at last count had a whopping 13,662 followers on Twitter, easily the biggest following of any Australian journo. And on the morning after Abbott became leader she tipped the following bucket on him, setting the tone with the provocative headline: “Tony Abbott is the new Liberal leader. A very bad day for women. A great day for Joe Hockey’s family.”

The piece read: “I am still trying to wrap my head around the fact that the Liberal party has just elected a leader who is anti-abortion, anti-contraception, anti-IVF, anti-stem cell research and who wants to ban no-fault divorce. What a great day for women! PS: Libs — are you on crack?

“With Tony Abbott installed as leader of the opposition (my fingers are struggling with typing that HOW CAN IT BE TRUE???) at least Joe Hockey will have the chance to be around while his kids are so little.

“He has also been quoted as saying `climate change is crap’. Super!

“What do you think about the whole mess? Tony? Malcolm? Joe? ETS? Argh???!!!”

Freedman’s piece was a deadly accurate reflection of the views of her audience.

And her readers needed no encouragement to hop in. The following comment was in keeping with most of the 300-odd that had been posted by Wednesday night: “Let me see . . . my `husband’ and I live in sin, we have had two children out of wedlock, I have had an abortion, I support the ETS bill, I have an IUD . . . I’m bracing for women like me to be burned at the stake by the Mad Monk and his cronies.”

Freedman corrected one element of her intro, the contraception reference, after it was pointed out that Abbott was on on record as saying contraception was vastly preferable to abortion. In keeping with what is internet style, she ran a strike through line on the contraception reference to show she had amended the post after its publication.

Even with that qualifier it was a devastating character assessment of Abbott. It is obviously the kind of thing he will expect; given his rambunctious personality it’s the kind of thing he almost seems to invite, as he has always been one to speak his mind and front up for an argument.

The problem he has is that these arguments are happening in a place where most conservatives fear to tread, or wouldn’t know where to tread. And the internet operates like Amway. It’s the greatest bit of pyramid marketing going around.

I do not know what traffic Freedman did on this piece, but if half her Twitter followers read and liked it, and forwarded it to two, three, four friends, the numbers would be staggering. Up there with daily newspaper circulation.

Right, well to say I was taken aback by the reaction to my post would be accurate. Within minutes of publishing it, my email box and phone started to ping and ring respectively with journalists wanting me to comment on what the rise of Tony Abbott meant for women.

I didn’t do a single interview. I never put my hand up to be the spokesperson for Tony Abbott bashing. Well, maybe I sort of did in that first, impulsively written post but I didn’t mean to. I don’t want to bash any politician particularly, not just for the sake of it.

I don’t think that’s my job and it’s not my style. Polarisation is limiting.

When the brou-ha-ha erupted over his virginity comments, I looked into it carefully before deciding not to go there. Sure, I could have had a free kick at any man who tried to tell young women to treat their virginity as a precious gift but when I read the interview and his comments in context, I could see he was answering a specific question about his own daughters and speaking as a father rather than as a politician.

I can’t think of a single father who would have said anything differently. So when yet again when I was repeatedly asked to comment on the virginity thing by the media, I said no.

So. Back to my conversation with Helen McCabe. She told me that in the course of her interview, she learned that Tony and his staff had read the Mamamia post and she suggested I meet him. A few days later we bumped into each other again at the David Jones show and she said she’d spoken to Tony’s office and he was keen.

In a few weeks, we’re going to meet up for a chat. Given that I am quoted in the Women’s Weekly interview with Tony as saying “If he’s elected as our PM in the future I would be very scared for women everywhere. I’m not anti-lib I’m just anti-Abbott”, I’m really looking forward to looking him in the eye and shaking his hand. It won’t be at all awkward. *Cough *

I still vigorously disagree with many of his beliefs and wince at the way he keeps putting his foot in it with the language he uses about women (ironing!?) but as with anything, it’s not black and white.
For example I’ve learned he supports a 6 month paid parental leave scheme.

Over the past few weeks, I’ve heard some people start to say they find his candour refreshing, even when they too disagree with what he’s saying. He certainly has cut-through in a sea of political-speak.

What do you think? I know people say politics should be about policy not personality but I have always been heavily influenced by “the vibe” to paraphrase The Castle.

Is there anything you’d like me to ask Tony Abbott? How are you feeling about him a few months down the track?
What’s your view of how he’s playing out with women?
No doubt this time that his office will be paying close attention…..