Kathy Marks: Abbott never looked so statesmanlike

Australian PM Tony Abbott's ratings in the polls have skyrocketed. Photo / AP

PM’s response to the MH17 disaster proves he’s more adept at dealing with a crisis than issues at home.

Donetsk is Tony Abbott's "Bali moment". Just as his predecessor, John Howard, garnered kudos for his handling of the 2002 Bali bombings, Abbott has been widely praised for his response to the MH17 disaster.

Like Howard - who sent an Australian Federal Police team to Bali and flew there himself to comfort survivors and relatives - he is also reaping electoral dividends. According to a Newspoll this week, his popularity rating has jumped by 12 points, more than reversing the impact of the harsh May Budget.

There's no denying that Abbott has never looked so statesmanlike.

Australia, which lost 38 nationals and residents in Ukraine (the highest toll after the Netherlands), has, with the Dutch, led international efforts to access the crash site, investigate the downing of the Malaysia Airlines plane and bring the dead home.

Abbott's Foreign Minister, Julie Bishop, who has also grown in stature, is credited with securing a unanimous UN Security Council resolution within days of the crash. By contrast, the US and Europe have looked weak.

The Prime Minister displayed similar grit and resolve during the search for Malaysian Flight 370 in the southern Indian Ocean earlier this year. The Australian-led international team tried its utmost to solve the riddle of the missing aircraft before handing over the hunt to private contractors.

It's not quite a year since the Coalition came to power, but already it's plain that Abbott is more comfortable dealing with a crisis - especially one unfolding abroad - than with the minutiae of policy-making at home. Consider, for example, his refusal to give up his extravagant paid parental leave scheme at a time of fiscal austerity, or his muddled attempts to rewrite the national curriculum and water down race relations laws.

While undoubtedly bright - dunces don't get to be Rhodes Scholars - the Liberal leader is a man of action rather than intellect and ideas.

And while he has handled the MH17 tragedy well, it's fair to say that most political leaders will rise to a crisis. Such events, particularly if they touch politicians personally, bring out their best qualities. The Labor leader Bill Shorten has also seen his popularity rise.

A horrifying event such as Bali (which killed 88 Australians) or Donetsk also invokes emotions. Just like Howard, who bear-hugged the bereaved at a memorial service days after the bombings, Abbott has shown real empathy for Australians whose loved ones died in the sunflower fields of eastern Ukraine. His heartfelt words may be helping some to heal.

It's a quality some wish he would display more often. For instance, towards people who undertake the risky voyage to Australia by boat after fleeing war-torn countries or totalitarian regimes. Or towards the hundreds of Palestinian children killed or wounded in Israeli bombardments of Gaza; save for blaming Hamas, he and Bishop have been remarkably tight-lipped on that subject.

Clearly, in Abbott's world - as in that of Howard, his mentor - some people (Australians, primarily) are more deserving than others of compassion and moral outrage.