Tony Abbott Describes Carbon Tax as an Octopus Embracing Australian Economy

Despite the carbon tax being collected by the Gillard government for almost three months and the sky not falling as predicted by the Opposition, Coalition leader Tony Abbott continues to use colourful language to describe the tax which he vowed to repeal if he wins the 2013 federal election.

In his latest rant, Mr Abbott used his anti-carbon tax campaign at a frozen fish supplier in Sydney to blame the measure for higher electricity costs and much higher prices for refrigerant gases.

"What people are starting to understand is that this is an octopus embracing the whole of our economy. Every time you turn on a light, you pay, every time you open your fridge, you pay, every time you buy a cup of coffee, you pay, and as is obvious after a visit like this, every time you buy a piece of fish at the supermarket or elsewhere, you pay because of Labor's carbon tax," ABC quoted Mr Abbott.

The Opposition leader had previously compared the carbon tax with a sudden cobra strike, a phyton squeeze, a cash cow and a dog of a tax. Besides the octopus comparison, Mr Abbott also said that Labor's propensity to hike taxes is a poison and replacing the party by the Coalition is the antidote.

Mr Abbott's frequent allusion to animals led Climate Change Minister Greg Combet to ask if the Opposition leader has a problem with animals.

"Mr Abbott's time would be better spent having his Coalition policies costed by the Parliamentary Budget Office rather than inventing a menagerie as part of his shallow scare campaign," ABC quoted Mr Combet.

Despite Mr Abbott's latest rant, Courier Mail pointed out that the number of times that he has raised the issue of carbon tax during Question Time in Parliament after the winter break is going down from 13 questions on the first parliamentary sitting on the first week to 17 the second week, but has gone down to six and eight in the following weeks.

It is not just with animals that Mr Abbott has an apparent issue but also powerful female figures like Prime Minister Julia Gillard and a female opponent in a university student council election whom he bullied when he lost in the polls.

However, a recent entry in the Grill Team blog quoted a man named Matty Johns who said that as a young man, Mr Abbott was once a hero by rescuing kids from a fire while their group was drinking at a pub. The blaze was in the house beside the pub. Mr Johns recalled that Mr Abbott rounded them up and helped the next-door kids leave their burning house.