Abbott embarrassing Australia, says Shorten By Lisa Cox Tony Abbott is a "very unusual man" who is presenting a poor image of Australia overseas, Opposition Leader Bill Shorten says. 
Mr Shorten told a media conference on Thursday Mr Abbott had been "let off the leash since he's no longer prime minister" and his comments about Islam in recent days were damaging.
It comes after Mr Abbott used a speech in Singapore to criticise the international response to Islamic State in Syria and Iraq. The former prime minister also stirred controversy by calling for a "religious revolution" within Islam in an opinion piece he wrote for News Corp.
"I don't know if he's Australia's version of Donald Trump but he's a very unusual man, Tony Abbott," Mr Shorten said on Thursday.
"We shouldn't have a bar of what he says." Mr Shorten said Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull should recognise that Mr Abbott's remarks in recent days were "a very bad look".
"In Australia it is always important that governments made up of majorities always respect minorities and don't make them feel worse or somehow give a green light to other people to vilify minorities," he said.
Counter-terrorism expert and associate professor Nick O'Brien said Mr Abbott's recent remarks could be counterproductive.
"The timing of it is extremely unfortunate coming straight after comments by Donald Trump on Islamic State," he said.
"Muslims in the Western world are now feeling under siege and the danger is the moderates, instead of trying to engage with the authorities, will move away and say this is not working." Professor O'Brien said Mr Abbott's remarks were the sorts of comments that could drive people towards becoming radicalised.
Jacinta Carroll, director of the counter-terrorism policy centre at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute said Mr Abbott was correct to state in his Singapore speech that Islamic State was looking for conflict and there was a need to focus efforts in Syria and the Middle East.
Ms Carroll said that would involve military action in the short to medium term and a larger humanitarian effort in the long term.
But she questioned Mr Abbott's suggestion that the current international strategy was wrong.