Tony Abbott’s position in Viktor Orbán’s Hungary is untenable

With the Liberal Party battered and bruised after its election defeat, one figure has emerged as the go-to interpreter of the party’s malaise: former prime minister Tony Abbott. When he’s not campaigning against the abortion bill in NSW, or at board meetings for the Australian War Memorial or Rupert Murdoch’s Fox Corporation, Abbott is now being treated by the media similarly to how they once treated his predecessor John Howard — as the elder statesman with sage advice for his Coalition proteges.

But the soundness of his judgement since retiring from politics is questionable. Last week, Abbott penned an article for The Australian on immigration, suggesting “neither side wanted to touch” the issue during the election. But the content was less interesting than the byline: “This is based on a paper prepared for a Danube Institute talk in Hungary last week.”

The Danube Institute is a conservative think tank based in Budapest, which receives funding from the Hungarian government. Abbott has been a non-resident fellow of the institute since 2023.

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A similar article on migration by Abbott appeared in the Hungarian Conservative magazine last week. The institute and magazine both receive funding from the Batthyány Lajos Foundation (BLA), which euronews describes as “an instrument for channelling donations from the Hungarian government”.

On a recent trip to Budapest, I stumbled upon one of the BLA’s more absurd investments: a chain of Scruton cafes and event hubs, named after the late British conservative philosopher Roger Scruton, part of a failing effort to promote conservatism among younger Hungarians.

Inside the Scruton VP cafe, Budapest (Image: Benjamin Clark)

BLA’s donations broadly promote Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s ideology of “illiberal” national conservatism, which involves using state power to advance right-wing social causes such as pro-natalism and heteronormativity.

Tony isn’t the only English speaker enjoying the occasional Central European sojourn. The Danube Institute’s founder and director is John O’Sullivan, who formerly advised Margaret Thatcher, edited the Australian conservative magazine Quadrant, and still serves as its international editor as a side-hustle. O’Sullivan has recruited various Western right-wingers to the institute, including British intellectual Douglas Murray and American religious conservative Rod Dreher. Their appointments were controversial, given Hungary has been credibly accused of “democratic backsliding” due to Orbán’s electoral gerrymandering and undermining of formerly independent institutions such as the media and judiciary.

Last year, it was revealed by Hungarian media that BLA has “spent more than half a billion forints [A$2.16 million] of public funds to pay foreign guest lecturers and writers” and that “several guest lecturers were asked to write articles that would positively portray the Orbán government in the United States”. Crikey makes no inference that Abbott has received such payments or that his writing or public statements have been influenced by them. Abbott has registered his Danube Institute role, among other activities, on the Australian government’s foreign influence transparency register.

Even so, Abbott’s position with the institute, and his repeated praise for Orbán, ought to be scrutinised by the Australian media far more often. Morally, any association with such an illiberal, increasingly undemocratic regime is highly suspect. And is it appropriate for him to serve on the Australian War Memorial board, an institution dedicated to celebrating those who fought for democracy and freedom, while simultaneously getting into bed with a state apparatus that increasingly represents the opposite?

Last week, Orbán’s party Fidesz introduced legislation to the Hungarian Parliament that would empower the government to monitor, penalise and ban organisations it designates as a threat to national sovereignty. Critics have suggested that, if passed, the bill could shut down all independent media and politically engaged NGOs in the country. Is this company you really want to keep, Tony?

Abbott’s affiliation is particularly hypocritical given his staunch support for Ukraine. He once threatened to “shirtfront” Vladimir Putin, and while he might have misspoken, no-one questioned his sincerity in repudiating the Russian warmonger’s imperial landgrab. Abbott has recently criticised Donald Trump’s embrace of Russia, accusing the president of living in “fantasy land”, and urged Europe to step up its support to Ukraine.

Yet Orbán is now the key blocker in Europe for doing so. He is holding out against progressing Ukraine’s application to join the European Union, among other roadblocks. Other EU states are now seeking ways to sideline his recalcitrant regime to put further pressure on the Kremlin.

While I was in Budapest, tension over Ukraine’s EU ascension question was palpable. The government is holding a referendum, a frequent tactic of Orbán as he knows his older voting base is more likely to turn out, on whether to continue holding up Ukraine’s application. Fidesz has put up propaganda posters across the city, which are being graffitied by young locals.

Poster in Budapest’s Palace District, May 2. Official text reads “Don’t let them decide over our heads!” Graffiti reads: “Fidesz is lying again” (Image: Benjamin Clark)

This puts the Western conservative coterie that has coalesced around the Danube Institute in an awkward position. Most of them are purportedly pro-Hungary and pro-Ukraine. Murray has called out Joe Rogan for not sticking up for Zelenskyy. O’Sullivan’s X posts suggest he is sceptical of Trump’s “peace” agenda.

But with Orban increasingly running cover for Putin in the EU, how long can they square their circle of affiliations? How can Abbott threaten to “shirtfront” Putin while bear-hugging his new pal Orbán?

Crikey put a series of questions to Abbott, including whether he had received payment or payment in kind for any of his activities with the Danube Institute and/or Hungarian Conservative, whether he had any concerns about Hungary’s role in blocking EU support for Ukraine and, if so, whether this raised any concerns regarding his continued affiliation with the Danube Institute. We did not hear back before deadline.

If respect for democracy, free speech and the rule of law isn’t enough to dissuade them, perhaps a commitment to what remains of Atlanticism and Western security cooperation could. Abbott and his international pals should resign from the Danube Institute on principle, if not in disgrace.