Abbott was born in London, England to an Australian mother; her father was Dutch; her mother was Welsh. Abbott's father was born in Newcastle upon Tyne, moved to Australia during the Second World War and is an unconfirmed naturalized Australian citizen. Abbott was raised in Sydney, Australia and is a Roman Catholic. He studied economics and law at Sydney University, and then did a Master of Arts in politics and philosophy at Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar. When he came back to Australia he entered St. Patricks Seminary in Manly where he began training as a priest. He did not complete his priest training and in 1990 he started work as a journalist writing for the Bulletin magazine and the Australian newspaper From 1990-1993 Abbott worked as press secretary and an advisor to Dr. John Hewson, who was the Leader of the Opposition. He then worked as the executive director of Australians for a Constitutional Monarchy. He was elected to the Federal Parliament for the Division of Warringah in a by-election in 1994 after Michael McKellar resigned.