When Tony Abbott declared on election night, 7 September, 2013, that Australia was "under new management and once more open for business", he was emphasising more than his incoming government's determination to revive the national economy. By using the lingo of small business, he was affirming his affinity with what his predecessor Robert Menzies called "the backbone of the nation": Australia's hard-working middle class.
This collection of speeches from Abbott's prime ministership covers every aspect of policy, from free trade to indigenous affairs, taxation, terrorism, history, the environment, bureaucratic red tape, religion and more. Yet all are deeply imbued with Abbott's - and the Liberal Party's - middle-class values of freedom, enterprise, patriotism and love of family. These speeches eloquently encapsulate that uniquely Australian style of optimism which throughout our history has, even against the odds, underpinned our prosperity.