Mr Abbott says that the biggest regret of his prime ministership was the government’s failure to consider acquiring nuclear-powered submarines and, even now, ponders whether this is a debate we need to have.
In his time as Prime Minister, the carbon tax and the mining tax were repealed; free trade agreements were finalised with China, Japan and Korea; and the people smuggling trade from Indonesia to Australia was halted. Australia became the second largest military contributor to the US-led campaign against ISIL in Iraq and hosted the G20 meeting of global leaders in Brisbane in November 2014.