Tony Abbott was sworn in as the 28th Prime Minister of Australia on 9 September 2013.
Tony Abbott was elected Member for Warringah at a by-election in March 1994. Prior to entering Parliament he was Executive Director of Australians for Constitutional Monarchy from 1993-94. From 1990-93 he was press secretary and political advisor to the Leader of the Opposition, Dr John Hewson. His previous career was in journalism, where he wrote as a feature writer for 'The Bulletin' and 'The Australian'.
Tony became Leader of the Opposition on 1 December 2009.
He lives in Forestville with wife Margaret and three daughters.
On the election of the Howard Government in 1996 he was appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Employment, Education, Training and Youth Affairs. In this role, he was responsible for the establishment of the Green Corps program for young people.
Following the 1998 election he was appointed Minister for Employment Services. As Minister, he oversaw the development of the Job Network and a major expansion of Work for the Dole.
In January 2001, Tony was promoted to Cabinet as Minister for Employment, Workplace Relations and Small Business. Following the 2001 election he was appointed Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations, Leader of the House and Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Public Service
Tony was appointed Minister for Health and Ageing on the 7 October 2003.
After the election in 2007 Tony became Shadow Minister for Families, Community Services, Indigenous Affairs & the Voluntary Sector, followed by Shadow Minister for Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs. In December 2009 he became Leader of the Opposition. He has written two books in defence of the existing constitutional system, "The Minimal Monarchy" and "How to Win the Constitutional War". In 2009 he launched his latest book Battlelines.
As the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Youth Affairs, Tony oversaw the establishment of the Green Corps, a traineeship programme giving young people six months experience in environmental restoration works such as weed or feral animal eradication and the construction of national park infrastructure.
As Minister for Employment Services, Tony was responsible for bedding down the Job Network, which replaced the Commonwealth Employment Service.
Tony oversaw a massive expansion of Work for the Dole. Since its introduction in 1997, more than 600,000 people have participated in Work for the Dole gaining the discipline and dignity of performing useful work while developing the life skills and work culture so critical to obtaining and keeping a real job.
Tony established the Cole Royal Commission into the Building and Construction Industry to examine coercion, collusion and intimidation in the commercial construction industry and which led to the creation of the Australian Building and Construction Commission.
As health minister, Tony managed effectively a departmental budget as big as that of the NSW government. He oversaw the expansion of Medicare rebates to allied health professionals such as dentists and psychologists and introduced theStrengthening Medicare reforms which delivered record levels of bulk billing for patients.
In 2003, when faced with the medical indemnity crisis that threatened to cause an exodus from public hospitals of obstetricians and neurosurgeons, Tony brokered a solution that kept public hospital doctors at their posts and protected medical professionals against skyrocketing damages claims.
During his tenure as health minister, Tony also undertook reforms which provided higher Medicare rebates for people with high out-of-pocket health costs and approved cheaper life-saving drugs under the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) for cervical cancer, breast cancer, prostate cancer, chronic kidney disease, leukemia, osteoporosis, and arthritis.
Tony also began the process of tackling the problems of state government-run public hospitals by seeking to establish local management boards to take the bureaucracy out of patient care. This remains an important Coalition policy goal.
On 14 September 2015, he was defeated in a vote for the Liberal leadership, and ceded the prime ministership to Malcolm Turnbull the following day. Using his own words - "Shit Happens!!"