At an International Women's Day Afternoon Tea, Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull was presented with a basket of premium South Australian red, white and brown onions, by Onions Australia chief executive Lechelle Earl. Unlike his predecessor, Tony Abbott, Mr Turnbull did not eat the onions raw.
On March 13 last year, former prime minister Tony Abbott ate a raw onion while touring an onion farm in Tasmania. A week later, Ms Earl was in Canberra to give a personal thanks to Mr Abbott for backing the onion industry. She presented him with an assortment of edible goods, while he loved the quiche, crackers and relish, he was clearly only interested in the onions, taking a bite into his second raw onion in a week.
He did not shed a single tear — on both occasions.
When the Liberal leadership spill unfolded in September, the hashtag #putoutyouronions trended on social media.
Mr Abbott’s love for onions was even mention on British comedian, political commentator and television host, John Oliver’s show.
Ms Early said she gave Mr Turnbull a basket of onions as a “welcome” to the state on behalf of SA onion growers.
“Given we’d presented the former PM with a similar basket 12 months ago, we thought it was only fair to present the new PM with the same basket,” she said.
“Especially since he was in SA, which supplies the bulk of Australian domestic onions.”
