Tony Abbott

Tony Abbott married Margaret ‘Margie’ Aitken, a New Zealander who was working in Sydney, in 1982. The couple has three daughters: Louise (born 1989), Bridget (born 1991) and Frances (born 1993).

Tony Abbott was born on 4th November 1957 in London, to Fay Abbott (nee Peters) and Richard Henry Abbott. His mother was an Australian and his father was British.

His family migrated to Australia in 1960 and settled in Sydney. Tony Abbott received his early education at primary school at St Aloysius’ College, Sydney and completed his secondary education at St. Ignatius’ College, Sydney for secondary school.

He did his graduation in Bachelor of Economics in 1979, and thereafter did his Bachelor of Laws (LLB) in 1981; both from University of Sydney.

He was a president of the Student Representative Council while he resided at St John’s College. He also attended The Queen’s College, Oxford, from where he completed Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics in 1983. Furthermore, he also completed his Masters of Arts in 1989.

Abbott was in limelight in his university days when he opposed the then dominant left-wing student leadership. A student newspaper editor with different political views than Abbott’s took him to court on charges of indecent assault after he touched her during a debate. The charges were soon dismissed.

After completing his studies in Britain, he returned to Australia and decided to become a priest. In 1984, he joined St Patrick's Seminary, Manly but did not complete his studies and left the seminary in 1987.

Following this incident, Abbott returned to Australia from Britain and decided to join priesthood, but soon enough changed his mind.

He worked as a journalist and got involved in national politics. He began to write articles for newspapers and magazines like ‘The Catholic Weekly’ and national publication like ‘The Bulletin’. He also wrote for the newspaper ‘The Australian’.

In 1993, he renounced his British citizenship and hence became eligible for election to Australian federal parliament.

In March 1994, Tony Abbott won the Liberal preselection for federal Division of Warringah by-election. In the 1996 general elections, he easily won the seat in his own right.

From 1996 to 1998, he served as the parliamentary secretary to the Minister for Employment, Education, Training and Youth Affairs (1996-98). As a parliamentary secretary, it was Abbott’s responsibility to look for establishment of the Green Corps program.

Tony Abbot was promoted to cabinet in 1998 and served as Minister for Employment Services (1998-2001), and Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations (2001-03). As Minister for Employment Services, he looked after the implementation of the ‘Job Network’ and also for government’s ‘Work for the Dole’ scheme.

From 2003 to 2007, he served as the Minister for Health and Ageing. In 2006, he ran into controversy when he opposed the idea of abortion terming it as a murder. In 2007 elections, he campaigned as Minister for Health.

In 2007, The Liberal-National Coalition lost the elections but Tony Abbott was re-elected to the seat of Warringah. By December 2007, he was assigned the Shadow Portfolio of Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs. During this period, he also wrote a biography ‘Battlelines’.