13 September 2010 Last updated at 12:20 ET

Profile: Tony Abbott

Tony Abbott says the next election will be a referendum on tax

Tony Abbott, leader of Australia's opposition Liberal Party, is known as something of a maverick politician.

Since taking over a flagging opposition Liberal-National coalition in December 2009, this straight-talking social conservative has reversed their fortunes.

He delivered a bruising general election challenge to the governing Labor party, leaving Australia with a hung parliament.

And although Prime Minister Julia Gillard managed to form a minority government, she and her party remain vulnerable in the face of Mr Abbott's emboldened opposition.

Rhodes Scholar

Mr Abbott was born in 1957 in England to Australian parents who returned to Sydney a few years later.

He graduated in economics and law from the University of Sydney, where he was also a leading student boxer.

He later attended The Queen's College, Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar and graduated with a Masters degree in politics and philosophy.

He briefly trained as a Catholic priest, which later earned him the nickname "Mad Monk" by his critics.

He worked as a journalist for The Australian newspaper before entering politics in 1994, when he was elected to represent the affluent Warringah district of Sydney.

He rose through the ranks under former Prime Minister John Howard's government, serving as an employment minister between 1998 and 2001, and as minister for health and ageing in 2003.

He has consistently voted against relaxing laws on abortion, same-sex marriages and stem cell research, and is a supporter of strong immigration policies.

'Phoney Tony'?

Mr Abbott is also famous for his sceptical views on climate change, which he has in the past dismissed as faddish.

He rallied opposition to former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's Emissions Trading Scheme, which aimed to reduce Australia's carbon emissions by up to 25% below 2000 levels by 2020.

Mr Abbott said the scheme amounted to "a A$120bn ($110bn: £66.5bn) tax on the Australian public".

But he has denied being a climate sceptic. He says he does believe human activity is contributing to climate change but that "there's an argument as to how great that contribution is, and what should be done about it".

He is fundamentally opposed to a price on carbon; he wants to axe the government's 30% mining tax and re-introduce tough border controls to "stop the boats".

He made blunders in the run-up to the general election in August. His attempts to show himself as an honest politician backfired when he admitted on Australian radio that he did not always speak the full truth.

He said that his off-the-cuff policy comments could not always be taken as "gospel truth", but his carefully scripted remarks could - prompting the Labor government to dub him "Phoney Tony" in advertisements ahead of the election.

Mr Abbott said the government was attacking his comments to try to escape its own political problems.

He is a supporter of the constitutional monarchy that keeps Queen Elizabeth II as Australia's head of state. He is also a fitness fanatic, completing an Ironman event.

Mr Abbott is married with three daughters.