A Liberal backbencher whose only recognised contribution to Australian culture has been to stand on his head on Australia Day and guzzle a pot of beer, has now come out in support of the abolition of Australian knighthoods.
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| Prime Minister Tony Abbott has stripped himself of the job of appointing knights and dames. |
A LIBERAL backbencher will defy the prime minister by asking parliament to abolish Australian knights and dames completely.
TONY Abbott has moved to quell internal party concerns about his judgment by relinquishing his right to confer knighthoods.It follows widespread criticism of Mr Abbott's Australia Day decision to knight Prince Philip.
But Andrew Laming, who represents the Brisbane electorate of Bowman, says making the Order of Australia Council now solely responsible for conferring the honour does not go far enough.
"Today's announcement has failed to address the concerns and feeling of the electorate at large," he said in a statement.
Mr Laming will ask parliament to support a private member's bill abolishing knighthoods and dameships.
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| Andrew Laming MP whose only contribution to Australian culture is upsidedown beer guzzling! He now wants to abolish Knights of the Realm |
Mr Abbott admitted on Monday his "captain's call" decision to confer the award on the Duke of Edinburgh was a "stuff-up".
"I accept that I probably overdid it on awards," he told the National Press Club in Canberra.
"I have listened, I have learned, I have acted, and those particular captain's picks which people have found difficult have been reversed."
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten was scathing of the knighthood admission, saying Mr Abbott should have said "I got that wrong, full stop".
"[Instead] he wants to talk about finessing the knighthoods and dames," he told reporters in Melbourne.
"He's more focused on Buckingham Palace than Beijing."
Mr Abbott said he wouldn't take the chance to become Sir Tony even if a knighthood was offered.
"It's highly unlikely that I'm likely to be offered any particular gong just at this time," he said.
