Malcolm Turnbull has gone down all guns blazing

Malcolm and some of his supporters are obviously seeking to hurt the Liberals as much as they can.  Hence the leaks about Dutton, the bullying allegations etc...

Well, Malcolm and Lucy are off to New York this weekend!  Apparently will be overseas for 6 weeks.  To "escape political heat".

WHEN he quits Parliament this week, Malcolm Turnbull could deliver the ultimate act of revenge to the party that dumped him as prime minister.

His inner-Sydney seat of Wentworth is at risk of falling to Labor in a by-election, new polling shows, which would threaten the government’s one-seat majority.

Scott Morrison could be forced to go to the polls, in an election that on current trend would see the Liberal-National Coalition wiped out.

A ReachTel poll of Mr Turnbull’s seat conducted on Monday shows the two-party preferred result is now 50-50 — a plunge of almost 18 per cent from the last election.

The Liberal Party’s primary vote is now 41.9 per cent without Mr Turnbull as the candidate, down 20 per cent since the election, while Labor’s has soared to 31.5 per cent.

ABC election analyst Antony Green said he expected “a big swing” against the Liberals at an upcoming by election.

“Malcolm Turnbull has developed a huge personal vote in Wentworth since he has been the member,” Mr Green wrote on Twitter.

In a message on his Facebook page today, Mr Turnbull reaffirmed his view that “the best place for former PMs is out of the parliament”.

“I don’t want to dwell on recent shocking and shameful events - a malevolent and pointless week of madness that disgraced our Parliament and appalled our nation,” Mr Turnbull wrote.

Labor’s preselected candidate Tim Murray looks set to benefit most from the ousted prime minister’s resignation, which he is expected to formalise on Friday.

Mr Murray has moved in political calculations from being a no-chance loser in the coming general election to being a big chance of victory.

A Mandarin-speaking investment analyst with 20 years of business experience with China, he was working the seat long before the Liberal leadership blow-up last week.

But with Mr Turnbull holding a 17 per cent margin two-party preferred from the 2016 election, it was always going to be a big ask to topple the incumbent even for a local like Mr Murray, president of the Tamara Surf Lifesaving Club.

The ReachTel survey also recorded strong support for independents should they stand in Wentworth, although the Greens vote fell almost six per cent to nine per cent.

The field is certain to be crammed. The Greens have nominated local Dominic Wy Kanak.

Independents Alex Greenwich, a NSW MLC, announced today that he would not be throwing his hat in the ring.

The big preselection will be in the Liberal Party, which believes it has two attractive options.

One is Christine Forster, well known in Sydney local government and as a prominent gay rights activist, and David Sharma, businessman and former ambassador to Israel.

Wentworth has a strong Jewish community and voted 80 per cent for same-sex marriage in the national plebiscite.

Mr Turnbull has argued that for him to have won Wentworth he had to capture the votes of people who usually support Labor.

He is quitting Parliament after last week’s challenge by Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton, which ultimately led to former Treasurer Scott Morrison winning the ballot.

A Labor victory in Wentworth could leave Mr Morrison with a tied House of Representatives.

The Coalition currently has 75 MPs, one of whom is the Speaker.

Labor has 69 MPs and there are five on the cross bench.

The full transcript of Mr Turnbull’s final letter:

Quote :

Today I have written to my constituents in Wentworth to thank them and to let them know I will be resigning from Parliament later this week.

And thank you to the thousands of Australians who have written to me thanking me for my public service and expressing their disgust at the shameful events of last week. I will respond to your messages after Lucy and I have had a break. We deeply appreciate your support.

Here is my letter to Wentworth in full.

I am writing to thank you for giving me the honour of representing Wentworth in the House of Representatives these past 14 years.

Your support has enabled me to be a Minister and, for the past almost three years, Prime Minister.

Everything I have achieved for Australia in public life has been due to you - built on the foundation of this community, which Lucy and I love and where we have always lived.

Thank you, from the bottom of my heart.

I don’t want to dwell on recent shocking and shameful events - a malevolent and pointless week of madness that disgraced our Parliament and appalled our nation.

As you know, I have always said that the best place for former PMs is out of the Parliament, and recent events amply demonstrate why.

I will be resigning as the Member for Wentworth later this week and you should expect a by-election before too long. So this is my last letter to you as your federal member.

It has been at times a wild ride, but together we have achieved an enormous amount. I am very proud, especially, of the achievements of the Government over the past almost three years.

With a one-seat majority in the House and a minority in the Senate many said that this Government would be “in office but not in power”. We disproved that.

We legalised Same Sex Marriage - and did so with overwhelming public support across the nation and especially here in Wentworth, where over 80 per cent voted YES for marriage equality.

We delivered, as we promised, more jobs and stronger economic growth. Last year was Australia’s best year ever for jobs growth, and at 3.1 per cent our GDP growth rate is higher than any of the G7 economies.

And in doing that we were able to repair the budget and reduce taxes - both for individuals and 3.3 million small and medium-sized businesses employing 6.8 million Australians.

A stronger economy, of course, produces stronger government revenues and it has enabled us to invest record amounts into education and health. Don’t believe Labor’s lies about us cutting health spending - it has never been higher!

In another historic reform, we have, for the first time, delivered consistent national and needs-based Commonwealth school funding.

While the Liberal Party struggles to find internal consensus on climate change policies, we have nonetheless made real strides to support the transition to cleaner, renewable energy sources and lower greenhouse gas emissions.

The Snowy Hydro 2.0 pumped storage project will make renewables reliable. It is an example of the practical approach I have taken to the energy challenge, where economics and engineering are better guides than ideology and, all too often, sheer idiocy.

And through strong action we have been able to make energy more affordable. After years of price increases we have turned the corner on electricity costs!

Snowy 2.0 is only one of many huge infrastructure projects the Turnbull Government has got under way: the Western Sydney Airport and all the rail and roads that go with it, the Melbourne-to-Brisbane Inland Rail and so much more totalling $75 billion over the next decade.

There is no greater obligation on Government than keeping Australians safe. The Turnbull Government embarked on the largest re-equipment of our armed forces in peacetime.

In particular, I am very proud of our naval shipbuilding plan, the nation’s largest-ever program of naval shipbuilding and sustainment that will create thousands of high tech 21st century jobs in advanced manufacturing.

With sweeping reforms we have strengthened our intelligence, security and law enforcement services. There has been no set-and-forget on national security.

And at a time of growing global tensions and rising uncertainty, Australia remains a steadfast example of a harmonious, egalitarian and enterprising nation. We are the most successful multicultural society in the world and our diversity is our greatest strength.

On the international scene, against all the odds, we kept the Trans Pacific Partnership alive despite President Trump’s withdrawal - and in doing so protected billions of dollars worth of exports and thousands of Australian jobs. We ensured that the US did not impose tariffs on Australian steel or aluminium, as it did with other countries.

And with my friend President Widodo, we committed to a free-trade agreement with Indonesia, which is due to be signed by this weekend.

We secured and then maintained a refugee resettlement deal with the US, with more than 370 refugees that Labor put on Manus and Nauru now resettled in the US. And there was not one successful people-smuggling expedition to Australia during my time as Prime Minister.

There is a lot more about our Government and its achievements - which remember you made possible - on my webpage https://www.malcolmturnbull.com.au/media/delivering-for-you.

After we take some time out to rest up, Lucy and I will be back and look forward to seeing you in the neighbourhood here in Wentworth - the best part of the best country in the world.

Yours sincerely,

Malcolm Turnbull

Veritas wrote:

Unlike Bishop Turnbull's off...
She will do the right thing by her party and stay at least till the next election.  But mal is proving everyone is right about him, he doesn't care about his constituents, his party or fellow Australians just himself...

Malcolm (along with his wife, Lucy) have always considered themselves to be The Elite. They aren't.

I used to think Bishop was OK, perhaps the "boyfriend" has had some influence?  Females are funny that way. ;)

Unlike Bishop Turnbull's off...
She will do the right thing by her party and stay at least till the next election.  But mal is proving everyone is right about him, he doesn't care about his constituents, his party or fellow Australians just himself...

Poor thing. So sad. Too bad.  :twisted:

Malcolm Turnbull: how a toff out of water became our loner PM

• By Richard Alston
  
• 12:00AM August 25, 2018
  

Malcolm Turnbull was never a good fit for politics. It is common to portray him as a Labor wolf in a Liberal sheep’s clothing, but I think the truth is more complex. Never a team player, always a sole trader, he was a political interloper chasing the ultimate trophy, but with very few political convictions.
If Graham Richardson is right that Turnbull once pleaded to be on the NSW Labor Senate ticket, it does not mean that he was particularly committed to the Labor Party, which was more likely a mere flag of convenience. Knocking around with the Sydney push of Gough Whitlam, Neville Wran and company probably made Turnbull rich and comfortable with that side of politics, but in reality he was a man on a personal mission.
Nothing better demonstrated his preference for his own brand ahead of any party brand than the posters that have been around his electorate for years proclaiming “Turnbull for Wentworth” — no mention of Liberal.
Such hubris sent a twofold message: one, that he did not want to be identified as a Liberal and owed the party no loyalty; and, two, that he believed his personal skills, serious wealth and impressive credentials placed him on a unique pedestal, well above your common garden variety party-affiliated politician. The fact is that every other MP knows they wouldn’t be in parliament without party endorsement. John Howard regularly acknowledged this.
Turnbull boasted to me that, given the way he had ruthlessly disposed of the hapless sitting member, he was the party’s biggest and most successful branch stacker, yet once he got party endorsement he went it alone. It was the same in the 2016 federal election, when we were asked to vote for the Turnbull Coalition team. It should be politics 101 that those who do not stay in touch with the party organisation and its grassroots are very much hostage to gratuitous media advice and in serious danger of losing their way.
The position of chief of staff in any ministerial office, let alone that of prime minister, is one that requires acute political sensitivity. Yet obstinately, and against all advice, Turnbull insisted on appointing non-political operatives — a public servant, a diplomat, a media executive — none with enough knowledge of practical politics, a specialised art requiring inner toughness and well-honed political instincts.
Yet with an office staff more notable for personal loyalty than political smarts, at the 2016 federal election he seriously contemplated bypassing the organisation altogether and running the campaign out of his office. Presumably because he thought he knew better — yet he ultimately ran the most inept campaign in living memory. He wouldn’t go near policies such as industrial relations or national security, presumably because they were too closely associated with Tony Abbott, although he knew they were Labor weaknesses and the Heydon royal commission into trade unions had given him endless ammunition. Industrial relations has always been a policy no-go area for him. I attended several private events with him during the 2016 election campaign where he thunderously denounced the CFMEU and Bill Shorten to the party faithful but barely said boo in public.
He hated fundraisers. One such event at Melbourne’s Athenaeum Club during the 2016 election campaign was a classic. Turnbull was supposed to be there at 12.30pm but, close to 1pm, he was still AWOL despite urgent phone calls, so I went down to the front door to await his arrival. When he finally showed up he made a few perfunctory acknowledgments and then went straight into the foyer, where he played with his iPhone for the next 10 minutes.
During the long campaign he barely laid a glove on a very vulnerable Shorten. When we accosted him on this he pleaded helplessness: “I’m flying around everywhere every day of the campaign and I have to rely on on-the-ground advice from the research.” What this meant was that the focus groups said they didn’t think much of Shorten, so there was no need to keep attacking him.
This was a complete cop-out. We all know that people will never say they want more negativity, but we also know it works if it confirms an existing belief or prejudice.
He never accepted that the buck stopped with him. It was always someone else’s fault. Despite the fact the vacuous slogan of “jobs and growth” went down like a lead balloon, he not only doubled down but was happy to have polling booth posters proclaiming the even more fatuous non-message of “stick to the plan”. He was warned repeatedly about Labor’s dishonest but damaging “Mediscare” robocalls but did virtually nothing to counter them.
For someone who made a reputation as a tough and ruthless operator in business, he was quite the opposite in politics.
In my experience he was the archetypal anti-warrior who wanted to take politics out of politics. He trusted no one but himself and found it very hard to take decisions. In the absence of political instinct, he relied on his legal skills and often insisted on doing his own research. Experience tells you that you only ever know 80 per cent of the facts and you then have to rely on gut feel and good judgment, of which he had neither.
He never set out his vision for the future, relying rather on generalities such as delivering a sound economy and promoting innovation and change, worthy but hardly vote-winning policies. But he had a tin ear for those who complained that new technology meant job losses. The Catholic schools funding fiasco was a classic example of how not to cauterise a serious injury. He had weeks to solve it before the recent by-elections but he did nothing and paid a heavy price.
But quietly solving difficult problems is not how politics works. What the voting public wants is a clear demonstration of why your policy prescriptions are better than those of your opponents.
His greatest failing was on energy. The punters had only one concern, low fuel prices, yet he was more focused on Australia’s emissions reduction even though he knew his policy intransigence would make no difference to the global issue and would not affect our ability to meet our Paris target. Yet he never argued his case. He never told you why climate change was a great big problem right now, just that we had to act on it, an explanation that left the community none the wiser and unpersuaded of any greater urgency. By trying to neutralise energy as an issue he was depriving his own party of its most potent weapon against a Labor Party committed to much higher emissions reductions and, so, much higher energy prices.
His ruthless ambition knew no limits. After Turnbull unexpectedly lost out to Brendan Nelson in the leadership contest after the 2007 election, he immediately set out to humiliate and cripple him — a despicable act, perhaps inspired by NSW Labor’s “whatever it takes” approach. It is said that Peter Costello chose not to run for fear of the same thing happening to him. Even in the lead-up to the 2007 election Turnbull had embarrassed the party by letting it be known that in cabinet he had supported Kyoto in defiance of his colleagues. Having lost the leadership to Abbott, he accepted the offer of a cabinet position yet spent the next two years running a remorseless guerilla campaign that ultimately fatally undermined Abbott’s leadership and amplified his mistakes.
Turnbull was good offshore and probably would have made a competent foreign minister, fitting in well with the UN world view. But he made it obvious that, although he loved rubbing shoulders with the great and the good, most of what he had to do at home was a chore. He had no real empathy for bread-and-butter issues, so he left no lasting impression with voters or MPs, especially in marginal seats.
Ultimately it was not one single issue that brought him down but a widespread realisation by his colleagues that he couldn’t change his policies, his personality or his lack of will to meaningfully fight his corner.
As I discovered early on, Turnbull’s approach to politics was purely transactional — no emotion, no warmth, no empathy, no gratitude. He publicly professed to admire Howard but took little notice of Howard’s advice. Now that he has thrown in the towel it is to be hoped that he will rethink his threat to resign immediately and trigger a costly and unnecessary by-election. There is no reason he couldn’t seek a leave of absence until close to the next election.
But despite the chaos of the moment, six months is a long time in politics. Howard lost more Newspolls than he won, but he won the polls that counted. It’s a very different game once the election is called and voters stop grumbling and face the binary choice before them.
With the election of Scott Morrison the real battle begins. He has all the right qualifications — economically literate, very experienced, cool under pressure and eminently capable of uniting the party. He has a powerful narrative to deliver, much of it of his own making. The trick will be to have cut-through lines that resonate. He must also craft a few policies that highlight the chasm between the major parties. He must take Shorten head-on. To date the Labor leader has been allowed to get away with cleverly crafted half-truths, designed to mislead the unwary.
As we get to real time towards the new year we will have a much better sense of whether middle Australia prefers proven economic policies or whether it really wants a forced diet of higher taxes, higher energy prices and a slippery-as-ever Shorten, utterly beholden to the thuggery of his union mates.

What a nasty person Turnbull is.  I say GOOD RIDDANCE TURNCOAT!!
***************************************************************
Why Malcolm Turnbull deserves no sympathy

THE 43rd and final signature was also the most telling.

Warren Entsch effectively ended Malcolm Turnbull’s political career when he added his name to the list of MPs requesting a second party room meeting and, by extension, another leadership vote.

It was the last signature Peter Dutton’s supporters needed.

And underneath, Mr Entsch scrawled a deliciously venomous three-word message, twisting the knife in Mr Turnbull’s back.

“For Brendan Nelson.”



Dr Nelson was leader of the Liberal Party for such a short and miserable period that many of you have probably, and entirely forgivably, forgotten him.

When John Howard lost the 2007 election, the obvious choice to replace him — Mr Howard’s treasurer Peter Costello — chose not to step forward, leaving Dr Nelson, Mr Turnbull and, before he pulled out, Tony Abbott as the only ones foolish enough to contest the Liberal leadership.

It was precariously close, with a final vote of 45-42, but Dr Nelson emerged with the dubious prize of squaring off against Kevin Rudd, whose true identity as a vindictive weirdo was yet to dent the giddiest honeymoon period in Australian political history.

Mr Rudd proved untouchable, and Dr Nelson’s depressingly low preferred prime minister rating eventually stalled in the teens. But he soon discovered he was being stalked by an even more ruthless enemy within his own ranks — the man he had appointed shadow treasurer, Malcolm Turnbull.

“Turnbull pledged his loyalty to Nelson but gave him absolutely none. He simply refused to accept the decision of the party room, and the undermining began immediately,” Paddy Manning wrote in his biography of Mr Turnbull, Born To Rule.

Just days after the party room vote, Mr Turnbull called Dr Nelson’s chief of staff, Peter Hendy, and told him he needed to “get Brendan to resign in the next few weeks” because Dr Nelson was “hopeless”.

“In his relentless campaign against Nelson, Turnbull took disloyalty to extremes,” Mr Manning wrote.

Dr Nelson was gone within a year, hounded out by Mr Turnbull’s merciless and destructive ambition.

“If you had any idea of what he said to me over those 10 months, you would be shocked,” Dr Nelson told Fairfax journalist Peter Hartcher when he quit parliament.

“I thought he was demonstrative, demanding, emotional and narcissistic, using his wealth and charm for seduction, and always with a sinister threat just beneath the surface.

“Keating wanted power because he knew what he could do with it for the country. Malcolm wanted position.”

Mr Turnbull played a longer game when Mr Abbott became leader, but again, actively agitated against him. There was never any question he would seek to seize the top job.

This all makes Mr Turnbull’s little performance after he was turfed this week a bit too rich to swallow.

With a smile on his face but cold anger in his words, Mr Turnbull said Australians would be “dumbstruck and appalled” by his colleagues’ disloyalty.

“Many Australians will be shaking their head in disbelief at what’s been done,” he said.

“To imagine that a government would be rocked by this sort of disloyalty and deliberate destructive action.

“Peter Dutton, Tony Abbott and others who chose to deliberately attack the government from within, they did so because they wanted to bring the government, to bring my prime ministership down.

“If people are determined to wreck, they will continue to do so.”

The architects of Mr Turnbull’s demise do deserve to be condemned, chief among them Mr Abbott, whose infamous pledge not to wreck, snipe at or undermine his successor now reads like a sad joke.

But that staggering hypocrisy has been matched, if not exceeded, by Mr Turnbull himself.

If the then outgoing prime minister had any semblance of self-awareness, he would have left criticism of the mutineers to someone else.

Mr Turnbull had no problem with disloyalty when he was the one being disloyal.

He voiced no objection to tearing down a prime minister when it served his own ambition.

He wasn’t the least bit bothered by wrecking and undermining when he was using those tactics to obtain power for himself.

So instead of whining, perhaps Mr Turnbull should have used his speech to reflect on what he had done to contribute to his own downfall.

There was no mention of his failure to give the government a compelling purpose.

Nothing about the policy thought bubbles that led nowhere.

Not a word about the bland, rudderless election campaign that reduced his government’s majority to a single seat.

No recognition of the irony that he was calling his leadership “progressive” after years of pandering unsuccessfully to the party’s right wing.

None of it was his fault, because as far as Mr Turnbull is concerned, nothing ever is.

This is not a defence of the rebels, whose stunningly incompetent coup proved to be not only ugly, but utterly pointless.

It resulted in the elevation of Scott Morrison, a man who will do little to change the government’s policies or direction. The alternative, Peter Dutton, offered the visage and all the charisma of a potato.

A more honourable man than Mr Turnbull would deserve our sympathy for falling victim to such a gormless mess. This shameless hypocrite should receive none.

https://www.news.com.au/finance/work/leaders/why-malcolm-turnbull-deserves-no-sympathy/news-story/45040b17d258b59f050f0683c6caed4b

I want to thank the Australian people for the support they've given me and my government over the last nearly three years. We've been able to achieve as a progressive government, as a progressive Liberal coalition government, enormous reforms and very, very substantial achievements.

M.Turnbull 2018/8/24

Little wonder the grassroots have been deserting and wanted him gone.

Yep Turnbull admitted in his farewell speech as PM that the Turnbull Government was a PROGRESSIVE GOVERNMENT.  Of course all those dipsticks on OZpol have been denying that for years.  Even when the proof was right in front of their faces.  They still went on blaming the Rigght or evil Conservatives for running the party   That's laughable.

Scomo needs to tell Turnbull he has to stay until the next election and sit there on the back bench next to Tony Abbott, after all he is responsible for cutting the liberals margin to just one seat.

The Liberals need to get the conservative vote back. Bishop and Morrison won't do it and I have no idea about Dutton.

The Liberals lost a lot of their voters when Turncoat ousted Abbott. We voted INFORMAL.

What a nasty, narcissistic jerk! Not his fault. I am The Greatest! Blah blah. The quicker they get rid of him, the better for the Liberal Party!

************************************************************************
AFTER his cringe-worthy press conference yesterday, you’d be forgiven for thinking we wouldn’t see Malcolm Turnbull come out firing today.

With his Prime Ministership in tatters after a string of Ministers deserted him and former home affairs minister Peter Dutton priming for the role, the PM finally faced the cameras.

And what he gave Australians was the sort of performance we hadn’t seen from him in a long while.

And a big up yours to Mr Dutton.

And former prime minister Tony Abbott.

And the MPs sniping within the party room.

But of course it was too little too late.

When the party room meeting is held at midday tomorrow, the PM will stand aside and the Liberals will elect a new leader.

And he’ll leave in a way that Mr Abbott never did when he was rolled by Mr Turnbull in 2015.

When asked if he would stay on as Wentworth MP he had this biting response aimed directly at Mr Abbott.

“No I made it very clear that I believe former prime ministers are best out of the Parliament and I don’t think there’s much evidence to suggest that that conclusion is correct,” he said.

“It’s not correct.”

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