Prime Minister Tony Abbott has painted himself as a man of the people, a strong, vigorous individual that is willing to stand up & fight for what’s right. Well, at least that’s the image.

With his elevation to PM, Abbott has spent the past few months hiding from media scrutiny, & downplaying wholesale rorting of entitlements among his most trusted MPs, himself included. With a government erecting the political equivalent of the Great Firewall of China, there seems to be no chance of repercussions for the MPs who have fraudulently claimed hundreds of thousands of taxpayers money for trips to the AFL grand final, the Melbourne Cup, even purchasing books in duplicate.

This is all without touching on the policy vacuum that has engulfed the LNP. The idea that you can “take politics off the front page” is ridiculous. Newspapers are there to report news, whether it be politics, tragedies, or sport. Any attempt to remove politics from the front page is an attempt to remove any oversight by the fourth & fifth estates of governmental business.

In short, this is rampant hypocrisy.

So why do it? Why do the opposite of what you have been doing for years, the epic 3 year election campaign? For your mates.

The PM’s biggest problem is he picks his mates & sticks with them. Some may see this as loyalty, but for an elected official to be so loyal to powerful people rings alarm bells for me. The pictures of PM Abbott kneeling next to Rupert, or listening intently to Gina talk in his ear, like a good little boy, churned my stomach as I thought “this man wants to be PM?”.

It doesn’t stop with candid photos of the PM grovelling to billionaires, but continues at breakneck speed past beating up anti-refugee sentiment for Alan Jones & his flat earth gang, past “destroying the NBN” for his mate Murdoch, resting finally at wholesale expenses rorting being “administrative errors”.

PM Abbott’s mates all seem to be in control of what he’s doing, the man of supposed self control & fitness is far from in control, & unfit to be PM. All within the space of two months.

The violent rhetoric prior to the election on expenses & budget emergencies has all but dwindled in favour of hiding under the covers for fear the public might find out what the Prime Minister is really like.

The problem is, there is no Prime Minister, just a walking IOU for some of the most powerful people in Australia, & on the planet for that matter. This leaves Australia in a difficult position, where self interest is seen as more important than public responsibility. Nothing has exemplified this more than Don Randall’s responses to Fairfax when probed over his wholesale rorting, & clearly corrupt activities when purchasing books & property in Queensland.

There is no explanation given, just a repayment & a “I did nothing wrong”. PM Abbott’s responses have been wet at best, wetter than he gets in his Ironman contests he charges the public purse for.

And that’s the problem. The PM is up to his neck in expenses rorting as much as the rest of his party, in some ways more. The excuse of it being difficult to work out which expenses are legitimate & which are not is laughable.

If you’re being paid over $200 000 per year (entry level MP), you should be able to figure out what’s a valid work expense & what is not, especially if you intend to become PM, or, as in George Brandis’ case, Attorney-General.

The expense rorting, the treatment of refugees, & the destruction of one of the most important infrastructure projects in Australia’s history, all boil down to who’s mates with the PM & who’s not. There is no policy, just interested parties who have the PM’s ear, not through hard work & critical thinking, but by being mates with PM Abbott.