Whatever your politics and however you feel about the legacy of former PM Tony Abbott, I've always believed the guy deserves some credit for his dedication to serving his local community in Sydney's Warringah, where I happened to grow up.
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For a long time Abbott was - and remains - committed to patrolling the beach with Queenscliff Surf Life Saving Club and volunteering at his local Rural Fire Service brigade. In other words, Abbott seems prepared to put his life on the line to help and protect others. Not every politician can say that.
And for all the years Abbott spent pushing a religion-tinted, ultra-conservative political agenda with populist slogans and nutty knighthoods thrown in, I often thought to myself, "The guy can't be all that bad - 'cos at least he surfs."
After Abbott became prime minister, I wondered whether he'd be able to maintain the stoke and find time for the occasional sesh. The answer came on May 22 last year when PM Abbott, a long boarder, honoured a previous commitment to surf in the Wipeout Dementia fund-raiser at Queenscliff.
It was an especially commendable appearance because the surf was an out-of-control, angry mess that day. He could have pulled out at any time and blamed his AFP security detail. ("I wanted to surf but they wouldn't let me!")
Admittedly it was with a large measure of schadenfreude that I watched Abbott paddle out on his mal as Queenscliff was hammered by a long-period groundswell that had pushed solid, cold, foamy waves well into the overhead-plus range.
"Oh gee whiz - this is just too good!" I thought, rubbing my hands together. "It's going to be humiliating!" After all, Abbott clearly enjoyed dishing out humiliation while in opposition so I figured he was due some of his own (not that it wouldn't come courtesy of a different kind of mal a few months later).
To his eternal credit, Abbott hit the water and paddled out to sea for all he was worth. But rather than being washed ashore - breathless and broken after multiple floggings and embarrassing failed duck-dives - Abbott threw himself at the oncoming ocean like he was a big-wave charger.
He never gave up and finally broke through the impact zone to find himself in deep water beyond the carnage of the churning sandbanks. Everyone on the beach was impressed. You had to be!
But then Abbott faced the matter of backing up his undoubted fitness and commitment by catching one of these bombs. The Prime Minister of Australia. In powerful, big surf. With people watching. And cameras trained on him. No pressure!
When a set arrived, he dutifully swung around and stroked into a proper double-overhead right-hander. OK, he wasn't exactly Tom Carroll but he sure as hell wasn't Harold Holt either and at that moment my approval rating of Abbott rose by a full 10 percentage points (to 20 per cent).
I very much doubt in my state of middle-aged unfitness and sloth that I could've wrangled an 8'6" mal out there that day. I'd have run out of puff, out of ticker and out of excuses and come in defeated. Kudos and cred to the Member for Warringah.
So I was astounded when, during a fateful getaway to Noosa this Easter, Abbott went and threw all of his surfing capital away on a 1ft wave. The humble backbencher, it was reported, had spent a couple of days picking off fun little runners along the famous Queensland stretch when he committed an offence so grave that the surfing world sat up in unified, spluttering alarm.
For some reason the former head of our country, the erstwhile Minister for Women and - if you will - the political surfer in chief, felt it was perfectly acceptable to drop in on another surfer. A teenage girl no less!
Fortunately, this wicked act was captured by a photographer so there is irrefutable evidence. There is no denying what happened! There will no cover up! I understand Niki Savva is already considering updating her controversial expose The Road to Ruin to incorporate the unflattering scandal at sea.
I'm sure Ms Savva's first port of call would be the victim, 17-year-old high school student Ivy Thomas. Ivy - a naturally gifted logger who is armed with elegant nose-riding and stepping skills - had slid into a nice little right on Easter Monday when the spectre of Abbott appeared in her peripheral vision.
Judging from the photo that captured the appalling violation of her personal space, Ivy's immediate reaction was to adopt a decidedly sour expression. The look may also have been designed to transmit her disgust at the fact Abbott was wearing a steamer in Noosa's bath-like subtropical waters.
Whatever the case, the Gold Coast school student had this to say later: "It was [my wave] because I was on his inside and it's a right-hand break so I did have right of way in that sense. But I got plenty of waves so I didn't mind sharing a couple with him."
A-ha! On the face of it, this statement sounds like a good-natured attempt by Ivy to put the whole upsetting saga behind her. And while she stated in other interviews that it was no big deal, you will note she made the point of stating she didn't mind sharing "a couple" of waves with Abbott.
Does that mean he dropped in on her more than once? It certainly seems calibrated to suggest that. Niki Savva will no doubt unravel the truth.
I believe other questions need to be asked: if Abbott is willing to drop in on punters whenever he feels like it, what other surfing sins is he happy to commit? Is he the guy who never has any wax and bludges it off his mates? Is he the type of bloke who paddles inside everyone else on point breaks? Australians have a right to know - particularly if the rumours he's plotting a prime ministerial comeback are true.
After all, given that Malcolm Turnbull dropped in on Abbott's leadership last year, under one interpretation of the surfing code Abbott has the right to drop in on Turnbull's.