Abbott `mad as a cut snake`: Hawke

Bob Hawke says the Liberals have a stupid asylum seeker policy and a leader who's as
"mad as a cut snake".
The former Labor prime minister used his appearance at a campaign launch in
Melbourne's marginal seat of Deakin on Friday to unleash the brutal assessment of
Tony Abbott.
"What's the bugger going to say next?" Mr Hawke said, leading the laughter of dozens
of Labor supporters in the crammed campaign office.
"He's going to talk a hell of a lot in this campaign but he's wasting his time.
"He's already said 'Don't believe me, it's only what I write'."
Labor wheeled out the colourful heavy hitter on the key election battleground,
hoping to use Mr Hawke's high profile to help retain votes for incumbent Labor MP
Mike Symon.
The Liberals are fighting for a swing of 1.5 per cent against Labor in the
electorate as one of several seats the coalition will need to win the election.
Mr Abbott has already campaigned in Deakin this week but it didn't go quite
according to plan.
The Liberal leader discovered afterwards that a small businessman he praised during
the visit had been one of the so-called boatpeople in the mid-80s - like the asylum
seekers that his party is now promising to turn back.
Mr Hawke had a few choice words for the coalition's asylum seeker policy.
"It's stupid ... he knows that to get up and say he'll send all the boats back,
there's a word for that, and it's bull****," Mr Hawke said of Mr Abbott's plan.
But it's nothing personal, he said.
"I like him personally but I think he's as mad as a cut snake," was the
none-too-subtle assessment.
Mr Hawke also offered up a word or two on knifed leader Kevin Rudd, who he thought
is "a very disappointed human being" - but not one upset enough to be deliberately
sabotaging Julia Gillard's election campaign.
"He's disappointed but I don't think he has any intention of trying to undermine
Julia," he said.
Along with deregulation of the economy, Mr Hawke's legacy is his popularity.
He was swarmed by admirers for photos and handshakes as he strolled through Eastland
shopping centre.
Mother of two Petula Chippendale stopped to take a photo with Mr Hawke but said she
wouldn't bother doing the same with the current leaders.
"Probably not, no," she said.
"You can't compare them, can you?"