‘Should be more respectful of people who disagree’: Tony Abbott and Peta Credlin share concern over free speech critics

Former prime minister Tony Abbott and Sky News Australia host Peta Credlin have shared their concern for the future of political debate, claiming there is a lack of respect from politicians to listen to opinions they disagree with.

In the fourth episode of Abbott and Credlin, the two political veterans revisited their discussion on the overuse of Welcome to Country ceremonies and spoke about fears over growing dogma around contentious issues.

Credlin referred to transgender children making the decision to transition as an instance where only one opinion appears to be accepted.

LISTEN TO THE LATEST EPISODE OF THE ‘ABBOTT & CREDLIN’ PODCAST HERE

“A lot of the anger is parents who feel that ‘look my kid might be going through a phase, I don’t know, can’t we have some counselling’ – but there’s pressure from all this affirming dogma that just because the kid says ‘I want to change’, they go down the path of drug taking and all these sorts of things, and the parents are dealt out of the equation,” she said.

“As I understand things in Victoria, if you try to persuade children not to go down this path, you could actually be committing a crime!” Mr Abbott responded.

“The Liberal Party in its nature is a truth-seeking party. In its nature (it) should be open to new ideas but it should be suspicious of dogma – and yet there is so much dogma around today and I just think we need to be more respectful of people who disagree and less respectful of absolutist dogma wherever it comes from.”

Credlin steered the conversation into how she believes healthy political debate is becoming less of a priority when it comes to important topics.

“The biggest indication of concern is where perhaps before in the past we would contest these ideas, we would have a civil debate, civil disagreement – we now not only have people shouting down others, protesting against others’ free speech but we are having more and more legislation go through our parliaments state and federal that shuts down debate,” she said.

“Now that’s a concern, that’s thought police stuff, ministry of truth stuff.”

Mr Abbott remained upbeat about the tide potentially turning, putting his faith in the current Coalition while maintaining a wariness for dogma.

“At least the federal Liberal Party, the federal Coalition is taking a much stronger stance against this – obviously there’s a strong stance against the divisive and dangerous Voice,” he said.

“Look we shouldn’t be pessimistic, maybe the tide is starting to turn but again I just think that we should be very, very careful about absolutist dogma on any topic.”

Credlin and Mr Abbott have teamed up for a podcast series debating the biggest issues facing society in Australia and across the globe.

The pair have launched the series more than eight years after they last worked together in parliament.

Mr Abbott, who served as the Member for Warringah for 25 years, and his former prime ministerial chief of staff will use it to delve into the debates shaping both the left and right of politics.

After decades walking through the halls of power, both Credlin and Mr Abbott have decided to “reflect on that experience” and provide listeners with their unique insights on the most pressing issues facing the globe.

In the first episode, the pair discussed how the “battered” centre-right movement would need to redefine itself to return to power in Australia and all over the world.

Their second episode focused on the changing tides of party politics and how the Coalition would need to position itself to return to government in only one election cycle, while the third episode looked at the upcoming referendum on the Voice to Parliament.

Subscribe to the ‘Credlin’ podcast on your favourite podcasting app to be notified when new fortnightly episodes of ‘Abbott & Credlin’ are available.