Interesting take on Abbott.
https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/why-one-term-tony-doesnt-care,7224
I don't swallow in completely in that I think Abbott is basically a sock puppet who genuinely believes whatever comes out of his mouth at the time and is so completely lacking in self awareness that he truly can't understand why people don't trust him.
I do believe its possible that the nazis in the IPA and their ilk saw him as the ultimate suicide bomber much like islamic radicals brainwash young, angry stupid men to blow themselves up. They probably couldn't believe there luck in finding such a perfectly stupid, belligerent, narcissist, sociopath to head the charge.
I just don't think Abbott is intelligent enough to realise that he's just being used as cannon fodder. No one could be as good an actor as that.