Tony Abbott refuses to feed the beast of the 24-hour news cycle Tony Abbott and his team has ignored the hungry media beast's demands to be fed. BACK in 2010, a few months after she became prime minister, Julia Gillard complained about the fast-paced non-stop news cycle that was changing the nature of politics. And she had a point. In the age of Twitter, YouTube, 24-hour news channels, constantly updated internet news sites and endless political panel discussions on TV, even major announcements do not hold the interest of journalists or the public for long. The media's rush from one subject to another forces politicians to rush too, depriving them of time to think and prepare and explain and persuade. Gillard's attempts to slow the cycle failed. It was one of the things that brought her government - and Kevin Rudd's - undone. But Tony Abbott slowed it this week. Almost brought it to a stop, in fact, as far as news from the Coalition Government elected last Saturday is concerned. Never before in Australian politics has there been such a quiet transition to a new administration. Not a single news conference from the prime minister-elect. Hardly a peep from MPs who will be sworn in as Ministers within days. Abbott and his team ignored the hungry media beast's demands to be fed. Instead, they worked away quietly and methodically behind the scenes, preparing for an orderly and unhurried takeover of the levers of power. And the country got on perfectly well without daily announcements and continuous commentary on every issue under the sun from the people who are our new rulers. Abbott even declined to pass judgment on the form of the Wallabies, despite his involvement in rugby union as a student, and said he had nothing to contribute about the state of the national cricket team. Can anyone imagine Rudd or John Howard passing up such an opportunity? It all fitted with Abbott's promise of a steady, methodical, businesslike approach. Working rather than talking. The quiet from the coalition contrasted with what was happening on the other side of politics. Labor figures couldn't stop talking - about themselves, as usual. MPs and retiring ministers criticised their party's election campaign or demanded that Rudd quit Parliament or attacked new rules for the election of a leader or squabbled publicly over whether to support or oppose abolition of the carbon tax. You had to wonder, paraphrasing Abbott's question about Rudd during the second campaign debate, "Does this mob ever shut up?" They dominated the news cycle. There was certainly no immediate danger of voters forgetting why they had turfed Labor out. It was hard not to sympathise with Bill Shorten when, announcing his candidacy for the leadership, he said: "For those MPs who feel that they just have to get off their chest a negative comment about a colleague, please go in to an empty room and say it to no-one and get it off your system and let's get back to standing up for Labor voters." Abbott likes to say that, while opposition is 90 per cent theatre and 10 per cent hard policy grind, government is the reverse of that. Although he is not yet sworn in, he spent long hours during the week with Dr Ian Watt, head of the Prime Minister's department, getting things in place. Legislation - including bills to abolish the carbon tax and the mining tax - is being drafted and will be discussed by the new Cabinet on Monday week. Letters have been drafted for each incoming minister setting out their responsibilities and exactly what is expected of them. Abbott's back-to-basics approach will be reflected in the portfolio titles. No longer will there be a Minister for Environment, Heritage and Water, for example - just an Environment Minister. Finance and Deregulation will become Finance. Immigration, Multicultural Affairs and Citizenship will be simplified to Immigration. And so on. Those who will hold the key jobs - Joe Hockey in Treasury, Julie Bishop in Foreign Affairs, Scott Morrison in Immigration - have also had detailed briefings from the relevant departments and set the bureaucracy to work on policy changes. For the incoming government to effectively take a week off from media exposure has helped the transition process and given the rest of us a welcome relief after what amounted to three years of constant campaigning. But even after the swearing-in, Abbott wants the new government to be aware of the perils of the speeded-up news cycle. "We can't really slow it down," says a source close to the new PM. But we can be more judicious about how we insert ourselves into it. That is the message that will go out to ministers. Anthony Albanese, Shorten's rival for the Labor leadership, has a similar view. He feels so strongly that he told a Liberal front-bencher in a coffee queue yesterday morning: "We have to do something about the 24-hour news cycle." And at a news conference after announcing his leadership bid to Caucus, Albo said: "We need to be focused over the next three years, not on what is on the nightly news or on getting a grab, but on positioning ourselves so we have a very clear and understood vision." In opposition, what is often referred to as the "news cyclone" worked to Abbott's advantage. Whether he has more success than Gillard at controlling it in government will be fascinating to see.