In his first in-depth TV interview since quitting politics, @TurnbullMalcolm discusses his political career, how he lost the leadership and the personal effect it had on him. #abc730 #auspol abc.net.au/news/2020-04-2…
On using 30 straight Newspoll losses as a criterion to challenge @HonTonyAbbott: “I wish I’d never said that, but the critique I made of the Abbott government was essentially that it was a bad government.” - @TurnbullMalcolm #abc730 #auspol
“@HonTonyAbbott and his friends and the Murdoch media, the right-wing shock jocks, they would have preferred Bill Shorten to be prime minister than me.” - @TurnbullMalcolm #abc730 #auspol
“The truth is that when I was prime minister, everybody told me not to trust everybody else. There was virtually nobody that I wasn’t being warned against.” - @TurnbullMalcolm #abc730 #auspol
“I’ve never sought to have power without purpose. Power for power’s sake is what drives far too many people in politics ... and a huge number of people in the media. It is just power for power’s sake. It turns them on.” - @TurnbullMalcolm #abc730 #auspol
On @PeterDutton_MP’s leadership aspirations. “It was such an absurd proposition. I didn’t imagine that he was so deluded as to imagine that our political prospects would be advanced by a change of leadership, and especially to him.” - @TurnbullMalcolm #abc730 #auspol
“If @PeterDutton_MP had become leader, not even Bill Shorten could have lost the election.” - @TurnbullMalcolm #abc730 #auspol
“Murdoch acknowledges one of his most senior executives was part of the Abbott plan to bring down the government with the goal of sending us into opposition, so that Abbott could come back as leader after the election & bring the party back to victory in 2022.” - @TurnbullMalcolm
On the first spill. “I thought it was important to bring it to a head & demonstrate that he didn’t have the numbers. And frankly if @MathiasCormann had not betrayed me in the shocking way he did, the Dutton coup would have been over by Tuesday.” - @TurnbullMalcolm #abc730 #auspol
On the right faction of @LiberalAus. “The way they operate is to basically bully and intimidate people. And what they do, they operate like a terrorist. Now, they don’t use guns and bombs, I hasten to add.” - @TurnbullMalcolm #abc730 #auspol
“But it is the technique of terrorism, where you create enough mayhem, enough damage that people in the middle say, it’s got to come to an end; how can I stop this terrible horror? And they do that by giving in.” - @TurnbullMalcolm #abc730 #auspol
“If Cormann basically rescued Dutton’s coup, and he did so, well, why? Why did he do it? Presumably because he wanted Dutton to be prime minister. He certainly didn’t want Morrison to be prime minister; that’s for sure.” - @TurnbullMalcolm #abc730 #auspol
“@MathiasCormann said to me, in the prime minister’s office, he said ‘you have to give in to the terrorists’ – his words.” - @TurnbullMalcolm #abc730 #auspol
On the influence of media moguls. “They wanted to have again a prime minister who they felt they had some control over, they had an ownership of. And they wanted to feel that, as they had done with Abbott, that they were in charge.” - @TurnbullMalcolm #abc730 #auspol
On @ScottMorrisonMP’s role in the leadership ballot. “He is a lifelong political operator & he is a control freak. So, the idea that those people that were voting for Dutton tactically were doing so without his consent and approval is possible, but unlikely.” - @TurnbullMalcolm
On the dynamic between @HonTonyAbbott and Peta Credlin. “You were really dealing with Peta. I mean Peta was running the country, and that was obvious, and dominating Abbott.” - @TurnbullMalcolm #abc730 #auspol
On whether he undermined @HonTonyAbbott’s prime ministersip. “Credlin and Abbott destroyed their own government, due to their own follies, and then set out to destroy mine.” - @TurnbullMalcolm #abc730 #auspol
On his support for same-sex marriage. “I legalised it, so I delivered on my commitment to enable people, regardless of their sexual orientation, to be married. Full stop.” - @TurnbullMalcolm #abc730 #auspol
“The bottom line is that they do not, the right wing of the Liberal Party and the National Party, do not accept the reality of climate change.” - @TurnbullMalcolm #abc730 #auspol
On losing the Liberal Party leadership in 2009. “I started to sink into a very, very deep depression. It was very deep and very dangerous.” - @TurnbullMalcolm #abc730 #auspol
