Former Liberal Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has again attacked current Liberal leader Peter Dutton.
I’m beginning to wonder whether Turnbull will ever have anything good to say about anyone involved in the party that helped him achieve his lifelong ambition of becoming prime minister.
He has described Dutton as “a bully”, saying his approach to politics is about fomenting “division and animosity”.
This is the clearest example of the pot calling the kettle black, given Turnbull’s track record.
Malcolm Turnbull is the last major figure left from that bitter period of Australian politics who is still waging war over his perceived past mistakes.
Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott have already moved on. Not so Malcolm Turnbull, who is willing to play the role of liberal critic whenever necessary.
Try as I might, I cannot think of a more divisive figure within the Liberal Party over the past 20 years than Malcolm Turnbull.
Although Turnbull has branded Dutton a bully, the biggest political bully of recent times is undoubtedly Turnbull. His political career was characterised by riding roughshod over others.
I am not just referring to his quiet and ruthless campaign against Tony Abbott. The history of Turnbull’s overt political ambitions goes back much further.
He entered Parliament in the 2004 election, unseating one-term Liberal MP Peter King, and quickly worked his way into John Howard’s cabinet.
Suddenly, that cabinet started leaking for the first time in a decade. He denied being responsible.Maybe it was a coincidence.
When Howard’s leadership came under pressure in the countdown to the 2007 election, Peter Costello was the alternative to lead in most people’s minds. Turnbull put himself forward.
Following the election defeat, Turnbull stood as a candidate for the opposition leadership, but lost to Brendan Nelson.
He marched into his new leader’s office to serve him, before challenging for the leadership a year from now.
Dr Nelson said Turnbull made life constantly difficult for him during his nine months in charge, before eventually taking over the role himself.
After Tony Abbott won a resounding election victory in 2013, he waged war on two fronts: against the newly formed Labor opposition and the Turnbull team.
Ultimately, Turnbull orchestrated a coup and seized power, only to lead the Coalition to a disastrous electoral “victory” in 2016, securing the narrowest possible majority: 76 seats in the 150-seat House of Representatives.
It appears to have been a disastrous campaign and Turnbull was a difficult political leader to manage during the campaign.
Although Turnbull’s political career was marked by energetic manoeuvres to wrest power from internal rivals, his animosity towards others came later.
His behaviour since his forced retirement is a far cry from Julia Gillard’s dignified post-political career. Turnbull never got over his dismissal as prime minister.
Since then, not one to share bread, he has waged a public relations war against each and every one of those he believes conspired against him.
This is where we get to what’s really behind his criticism of Dutton.
In 2018, Dutton decided, rightly or wrongly, that he would challenge Turnbull for the leadership.
It was an ambitious decision that Turnbull must have understood, given that he had done exactly the same thing with Abbott in the Coalition’s first two years in office.
At the time, I criticised Dutton’s move against Turnbull, because I thought that, after so many years of leadership instability on both sides, it was time for the Liberal Party to hold elections and stand firm, regardless of the electoral consequences, to show that it was putting those years behind it.
Following the Dutton-Turnbull standoff, Scott Morrison stepped into the middle and took over as prime minister, winning the seemingly unwinnable 2019 election.
Turnbull retired and Dutton’s political career continued. But Turnbull’s animosity grew like a cancer. Dutton’s role as the coup’s ringleader was not forgotten.
So it is not surprising that he periodically appears spitting bile in the direction of the opposition leader.
It wasn’t long ago that Malcolm Turnbull promoted Peter Dutton. Now Dutton is a “bully” who engages in “division and animosity, usually directed against immigrants.”
Aside from the unhealthy nature of being consumed by so much bitterness, I can truly understand why Turnbull feels the way he does.
Being stripped of the prime minister’s post must be a devastating blow.
But let us not fool ourselves into thinking that Turnbull’s criticism of Dutton is motivated by anything more than spite.
Nor is it a pillar of virtue when it comes to rising above political violence, division and displays of animosity.
Then there is his suggestion that Australians should be terrified at the prospect of Dutton as a politician.
Turnbull promoted Dutton within the cabinet and considered him a key political adviser on his team.
If Dutton really was as bad as Turnbull now claims, what does that say about the former prime minister’s willingness to promote and support such a person?
But we have heard these attacks before. While the TV presenters and their audiences last night were shocked to hear Turnbull’s attacks, anyone who follows the politics of this country closely would not have been.
Turnbull made similar remarks in the ABC series examining the Coalition’s time in power, also describing Dutton as a bully.
His attacks on Dutton are becoming so predictable that I doubt they will succeed in changing a single vote against the opposition leader.
They might even help Dutton in the bigger picture, where Turnbull has never managed to be seen as anything other than out of touch.
His attacks say more about him than Dutton.
Turnbull would rather settle petty personal grudges than act with the kind of post-parliamentary dignity befitting a former prime minister.
I was a strong supporter of Malcolm Turnbull’s political ambitions. I was one of his preselectors in 2003. I advocated for him to take over the leadership of the opposition.
I had hoped that he would give a boost to the moderate cause within the Liberal Party when he took over as prime minister. I opposed Dutton’s decision to replace him.
And he is good company: witty, entertaining with his stories and armed with a wealth of data and anecdotes at his fingertips.
But fast forward to today, and I have to admit with great regret that, upon reflection, it has been a negative element for the Liberal Party and a disappointment to small-L Liberals.
Now nearly 70, Turnbull prefers to settle petty personal grudges rather than act with the kind of post-parliamentary dignity befitting a former prime minister.
It’s a real shame, especially for Malcolm.
