Abbott goes too far with 'holocaust' image

Tony Abbott, never a bloke of mild disposition, has become even more aggressive - a hound of the Baskervilles, a great white, ripping into his tormentors from the moment a question is asked.

But Abbott red in tooth and claw gets himself into trouble.

He was in such a mode in question time on Thursday.

When Bill Shorten asked him about the Human Rights Commission report on children in immigration detention, Abbott said it was a question of "baffling folly", and the commission should write to former immigration minister Scott Morrison to congratulate him on stopping the boats and saving people from drowning.

When Shorten asked him about the bad job figures, he retorted that Victorian Labor had "crushed" 7000 jobs that would have been created by the East West Link project.

But when he was asked about building submarines in job-strapped South Australia, Abbott went too far.

Under Labor, there was a "holocaust of jobs in defence industries", he said.

There's probably not a more loaded word in the language, with its potency increased by the recent ceremonies marking the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, which were attended by Assistant Treasurer Josh Frydenberg.

As opposition MPs roared in outrage, Abbott swiftly withdrew and substituted the word decimation.

But he remained uber-aggressive.

When asked to explain how Khaled Sharrouf could leave Australia despite being on a terrorist watch-list, he immediately blamed Labor's system, which his government hadn't had time to change.

Abbott also made a virtue out of breaking an election promise, which, when Labor did it, was a mortal sin.

He happily admitted he'd broken his promise not to cut funding to the ABC.

"And frankly, it's just as well we did."

As soon as question time finished, however, Abbott apologised for invoking the holocaust.

"I should not have used it," he said.

But he added: "What I should also say is whatever happens with our future submarines project, there will be more jobs for South Australia."

Even when repenting, Abbott can't resist having the last word.