Australian Leader Pledges to Abandon Unpopular Policies

SYDNEY, Australia — Less than two years into Australia’s top job, Prime Minister Tony Abbott is struggling to hold on to his office amid growing speculation that his colleagues may topple him before the next election.

In a speech on Monday, Mr. Abbott said that he would abandon policies seen as costly and unpopular and that the government would refocus its efforts on creating jobs, lifting economic growth and reducing government debt.

He also pledged to consult more with his party rather than make decisions on his own, like the one last month to bestow a knighthood on Prince Philip, the husband of Queen Elizabeth II. It provoked outrage among some Australians and is being dubbed in the local news media as Mr. Abbott’s “knightmare.” The government — a conservative coalition of the Liberal and National parties — is not due to call an election before October 2016.

Mr. Abbott also said at the National Press Club speech in Canberra, the capital, that the coalition government’s loss of the state election in Queensland over the weekend — and the unseating of a state party premier — had delivered “lessons for us all.” Unusually for a prime minister, Mr. Abbott had been asked not to join his colleagues in state campaigning lest he further alienate conservative voters.

Professor Gallop added that Mr. Abbott was not loved by the public. “Australians are more in the center when it comes to politics; they don’t like extremes,” he said. “He is more radical than people think. And I don’t think he is well-liked.”

But Mr. Abbott had an answer on Monday. “All governments go through difficult patches,” he said. “You can buckle down to business or not. But failing to buckle down to business always makes a bad situation worse.

“I never came into politics to be popular.”

The New York Times