Gatay humans. Welcome to the safe space for dangerous ideas. Today's guest is the 28th Prime Minister of

Australia, Tony Abbott. I wanted to have an uncomfortable conversation with Mr. Abbott about largely three

things. Firstly, the black armband view of Australian history. This is the sort of slang that we

use to connote a worldview, which is that Australian history is fundamentally a story of imperial

conquest and genocide against indigenous people and that we should sort of be permanently guilty

for that. That's a worldview that Tony Abbott very much opposed when he was prime minister.

He's a cultural conservative.

He's a deeply Christian person and he's on the center right of government.

Secondly, I wanted to talk about climate change and the carbon tax.

The center right party before Tony Abbott led it was led by a more moderate and

pro-climate action parliamentarian named Malcolm Turnbull, and both the centre-right and

centre-left parties in Australia in the 2000s supported an emissions trading scheme. Largely

as a result of the Conservative Party's support for an emissions trading

scheme, Malcolm Turnbull was rolled as the leader. Tony Abbott was installed saying never

ever will there be an emissions trading scheme or a carbon tax. Now before Tony Abbott became

Prime Minister, his predecessor from the other party, the centre-left party, did introduce

a carbon tax, which was going to transition into an emissions trading scheme. And Tony Abbott

ran on the platform of abolishing the tax, and Australia actually became the first country in the

world to introduce a tax on carbon and then repeal a tax on carbon, and we've been living with

the consequences ever since. Thirdly, I wanted to have an uncomfortable conversation about turning

back the boats and illegal immigration and multiculturalism in Australia. Perhaps Tony Abbott's

signal achievement as Prime Minister, what he is most renowned for and despised by some quarters

...