IN HIS speech to the Master Builders Association last week, Tony Abbott somehow forgot to mention his two greatest achievements.

With all the current talk from the Coalition government about the need for cutbacks, Tony never said anything about the cost of war in Syria.

It's now at least $2million a day, perhaps $3million - that's between $730million and $1095million every year.

The war in Syria does not concern us and will profit us nothing. We are simply throwing away this money and watching it get burnt.

Malcolm Turnbull is so proud of our participation in this war that he extended our contribution to it immediately after the recent Federal Election.

Obviously, if we can afford to be in that war, then we can afford anything at all. There is no need for Malcolm Turnbull's government to cut back on any spending whatever.

And it's all thanks to Tony Abbott - yet the great man himself won't talk about it, not even modestly.

His other great achievement came when he was Opposition Leader in February 2010, back when Kevin Rudd's government didn't control the Senate.

Tony Abbott stood in front of TV cameras and said, "The government has its policies but we have ours, and we will be pursuing them through the Senate."

We all know what happened in the years since.

One result was that Prime Minister Tony Abbott couldn't get his budget through the Senate for two years in a row.

Now someone else's government doesn't control the Senate, not at all.

The parties which do control it are determined that their policies alone will be pursued there, regardless of what the government may think. In this regard Tony Abbott has had a permanent effect on Australian politics, one which can be changed only by a referendum.

So why won't Tony Abbott talk about all this, and tell us how good it is?

And since Malcolm Turnbull says that the Coalition owes Tony an enormous debt, why won't he give Tony Abbott the credit he deserves?

Grant Agnew