Bringing down the Turnbull government | Four Corners

[Music] is this the Last Supper the Prime Minister calls cabinet to dinner the Prime Minister under real pressure Malcolm Turnbull arrives for a crisis cabinet meeting ministers are having what they're describing is a working dinner inside the Cabinet Room backbench revolt fan by Malcolm Turnbull's predecessor Tony up now it's all of this going to be enough to win over the internal critics plainly No thank you cabinet ministers are hosing down speculation that the Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's leadership is under threat Sunday August 19 spring was on its way but Canberra was slipping back into the killing season Prime Minister Turnbull had summoned his cabinet to rework his signature energy policy the national energy guarantee hoping to head off a conservative revolt well the meeting was moved because of the media you know it would have been a case without sitting outside the lodge packs of cameras lights and and everyone coming in and it was thought I'm sure that that was a bit too dramatic and invasive if you like so it was decided that the meaning of the dinner would happen here at Parliament House I think by Sunday it was abundantly clear that it was coming and the Prime Minister tried to forestall it by bowing before his enemies on the National Energy guarantee and his enemies were rolling over the top of him so there was a lot of tension simmering about the league there's no doubt about that but things happened very very quickly and very unexpectedly the scene for the showdown had been sent the previous morning with a strategic leak to Saturday's Daily Telegraph a paper known for its antagonism to Turnbull the Telly's exclusive reported Peter Duggan was about to challenge for the prime ministership Dutton denied it tweeting the Prime Minister has my support we'll report that a potential alternative to the Prime Minister could be paired up and there was a period for 24 hours where Peter didn't refute that I think when he came out by the time it's been up there for 24 hours it sparked a bushfire and we now know what the results are if you can read the Canberra tea leaves that was a very nuanced statement of support for the Prime Minister and so it was clear I think to everyone at that point that that this push was real and it was on and it would accelerate [Music] Turnbull's revamped energy policy included supporting investment in new coal-fired power stations penalties for power companies that overcharged and a guarantee that the 26% emissions reduction target could not be increased if it would cause power prices to rise but the attempt at appeasement failed well good morning everyone now today we're going to announce a range of new measures that will drive down the cost of energy for Australian families and businesses the national energy guarantee remains the government's policy but if a relatively small number of people are not prepared to vote with the government on a measure then it won't get passed but here's a man who said once any party doesn't support me on emissions trading I don't want to lead and then he rolls over on the neck he rolls over on this and I think if he said do a Gough Whitlam under crashing crash through I look my way or not at all because as he tried to bend to accommodate the destruction of the Abbott world and the conservative right I think he lost some of his credit and a lot of his soul behind the scenes Peter Dutton and his supporters were working the phones building support and portraying the compromise as evidence Turnbull didn't stand for anything what I think we want to know is where are this Prime Minister's convictions what are his convictions now we always thought he was convicted on climate change issues I think he probably still is and it was a conversion of convenience this morning the turning point was a point of revenge from people who who fundamentally had no truck or had little truck with what Malcolm had to offer why the rioting thought was a play is not again you know it's a 9-month from an election there's elections here in Victoria New South Wales I couldn't believe that the party would turn on itself again [Music] on Tuesday morning as Liberal MPs arrived for their weekly party meeting rumors of a challenge were swirling today so nothing to say here right no no no I'll leave it up to them and I think and I I know how this place smells and doesn't smell how that's gonna happen if you want cabinet ministers to come up to the press gallery in do media you know this way of kind of bugging them in the corridors does not really a good practice professionally Turnbull had already made the decision to call a leadership spill hoping to outflank his enemies why walk to the party room with the Prime Minister and the Prime Minister Tom what he was going to do they asked my opinion and I thought it was a good idea because by that time they'd been all that rumour and innuendo around reports that people lobbying actively lobbying against the prime minister and you know it for fear of it continuing if that was the case the Prime Minister took the decision that he should call it to a head which he didn't I think it was the right decision it came as a surprise the Prime Minister was the one that actually called the spill on he's the one that stepped aside and called a vote I got into the party room slightly late bet 5-7 minutes when I walked in I just saw a vacant table and this an eerie quietness in the party room and so i hobbled to my chair said to my colleague Myron H what's going on they just said the Prime Minister's build the positions as I said what for how the whip comes in the whip says you know who would like to stand for the leader of Liberal Party which then becomes the leader of the coalition which then becomes the prime minister of the nation Malcolm Turnbull stood up and Peter Dutton also stood up people I think would have liked to have seats and things and perhaps aired their concerns that's the sense that I got I know that around where I was sitting there were people who did want to say things and and it was a very clinical no we're going to take a vote I thought there'd be a few people issue a protest vote on various issues but when there was like at least ten a cabinet members ten members of the executive that actually voted against the Prime Minister that came as a great surprise to me oh good morning the Prime Minister called a ballot in the Liberal Party room and I conducted a ballot with my whips the result of that ballot was Malcolm Turnbull was elected leader of the Liberal Party by a margin of 48 votes to 35 with Peter Dutton as the other candidate it is always orderly you know in our party afternoon our job here in this building and as the government is to deliver for the Australian people other people we work for twenty five million Australians what I say is exactly what I said to them that we need or to ever all of my colleagues that we are united we are able as a team to deliver the great results continue to deliver the great results that we have for all Australians [Music] do now I'm Tim I make a mistake you think calling a spill let me answer it this way if I'd been in that situation I wouldn't have caught us bill I would have waited until I had been tested but that's my approach the Prime Minister probably took the notion and I'm only guessing here that he wanted to clear the air and allow the party room to get this out of their system the result was what I feared it would be and I thought if that's the case at that guy you know Peters group the ability you know more aggressively and openly get out there and lobby and Turnbull is the advantage he has which is the advantage of incumbency he's built the leadership and he prevailed in that contest but unfortunately for him the Dutton forces from a standing start netted a vote in the 30s and when that occurs the history of this building shows you that a leader is dead is a dead man walking [Music] Malcolm Turnbull's political miscalculations began on the day he seized the leadership of three years ago well thank you very much a little while ago I met with the Prime Minister and advised him that I would be challenging him for the leadership of the Liberal Party the one thing that is clear about our current situation is the trajectory we have lost 30 news polls in a row it is clear that the people have made up their mind about mr. Abbott's leadership the argument has been put that the Prime Minister set himself a KPI of 30 at news polls but that's came back to haunt him because certainly Tony Abbott made sure that news polls were mentioned at different times is a benchmark towards achieving the same outcome that he'd achieved there'll be no wrecking no undermining and no sniping I've never leaked or backgrounded against anyone and I certainly won't start now Tony Abbott's pledge belied a seething anger he would continue to nurse the party room made a decision in relation to Tony and I think that there are some unresolved issues following that and certainly Tony has been very active in maintaining a degree of agitation about his position and I think that that has continued to to accumulate for Tony this is unfinished business and he's got his agenda it's now become a very complex situation of all the leadership challenges that we've seen I think this is the most complex of all of them it's ambition I mean politics right back to Roman times you can you can go to the kings and queens in the Middle Ages and go to Roman times you can get anywhere do you think that human nature has changed that much it's called ambitions called egos it's how it works we saw through the rudd-gillard-rudd years the bitterness that follows from changing the prime minister in the party room and in the case of the Liberal Party the same sort of thing has happened so there is amongst those who are losers in these situations perhaps one could say inevitably a high degree of bitterness and that can in turn lead to acts of attempted revenge everyone blames Tony and I understand there but it goes back to when Tony defeated Malcolm Turnbull in opposition by one vote and that lay the seeds to this continuing hostility between them both so they're both responsible the government welcome back three years of serving the Australian people after the turmoil of Abbott's prime ministership there were high hopes for turning when he rolled Tony Abbott there was a June feeling of excitement in this country he noted looked like a prime minister he sounded like a partnership behave like a Prime Minister and here's some great ideas if he would only have been this of everybody if you'd only been the real Malcolm Turnbull he might still be there today but as he rolled over on things already he just rolled in here old he's not saying what do you still stand for within his party Turnbull was always an outsider we're not run by factions we're not run by well you may you may you may you may dispute that but I have to tell you from experience we are not run by factions the Conservatives never accepted that he was a true liberal in the mold of Menzies and Howard because somebody who's been in the Liberal Party for a long time and being involved in politics for a long time I've watched us be a very successful government and I think that when we've been successful it's because we've had the two wings of the party the moderate wing and the conservative wing and certainly during the Howard years we saw that working very very well mr. Howard had this ability to bring policy and politics together with a very good understanding a very good grounding of the Liberal Party we haven't had a prime minister since mr. Howard who has been a creature of the party and who has understood the party like mr. Howard did so therefore I think that that is very important and that's part of the reason why I think that we are where we are [Applause] if you're talking about a fatal flaw Malcolm Turnbull is really inextricably linked with a lot of issues that are really signature issues of the left that the right or the Conservatives would start to say enough is enough and that's that's really what has happened the last thing you want to do mister harvest I'd mentioned it looked like you don't know and you're not welcome many in the party were suspicious of the multi-millionaire merchant banker everyone's entitled to their commentary I'm focused on jobs and growth for all Australians and the Prime Minister's from the seat of all clues that's that's his o wentworth vocalist we're a very very very broad church that the base of the Liberal Party is a very conservative this is a very conservative base that we have in in the Liberal Party and it's fair the same the Prime Minister be the first term it he said he's more to the center than perhaps the base of the party is I think he has done and delivered some very very important policies to keep our party together and to be consistent with our conservative and liberal values but clearly for some that was not enough [Music] very good good to see you since nine months ago since malcolm turnbull assassinated tony abbott promising only one thing that he would do better than Tony Abbott at the polls [Music] in July 2016 another political misstep saw the Turnbull government scrape back into office with a one-seat majority we can have every confidence that we will form a coalition majority government [Applause] [Music] and for a variety of reasons political judgments who knows Malcolm didn't go early when he would have won a resounding majority and I think political history would have been different he went full to him he had a very long election campaign probably a mistake and anyway the result was that at a double dissolution he lost a lot of his authority because when you've got a majority of one in the lower house and minus ten or minus 12 or whatever in the Senate it makes it fundamentally difficult Turnbull's refusal to return Abbott and his allies to the front bench fueled the anger of the former prime minister and his fellow conservatives the ministry the ministry will be the same after this election as it is now we've lost a number a number of a number of ministers have have well a number of Ministers have not been returned you're right but there is no I'm not proposing to bring back any particular individuals I mean one of the roles of leadership is to actually bring people together and the Liberal Party is a broad church and therefore you have to bring around you people with ability you've got to put people of different views together to actually put together the vision and the strategy to deliver the vision you can't be all of one mold well I don't think Tony Abbott our mindset was the mindset of playing in the team led by Malcolm Turnbull in all honesty so I'm not sure that it was a mistake to exclude him from the cabinet but you know who knows his slender majority would leave Turnbull on a permanent life's edge when we fight for marriage the debate over same-sex marriage exposed the government's divisions and I say to you if you don't like same-sex marriage they've know I'm a supporter of same-sex marriage and I'll be voting YES [Music] Turnbull agreed to Peter Dunne's plan for a postal vote it delivered a decisive victory for marriage equality but fails to pacify his critics the same-sex issue I think divided the Liberal Party a lot and certainly from a conservative base irrespective now of whatever the vote may or may not have been nationally the reality is that I'm talking about the BAE I'm talking about the party and where the party is at the moment and where our support bases so we've seen a range of issues issues pertinent to religious freedom we've seen issues pertinent to energy we've seen a range of things where there is a difference of opinion and so therefore those have in the more volatile atmospherics of a post Abbott situation have amplified I think to create a greater perception amongst our base that the part that the party is moving more to the left I accept but some of the more conservative people within the party both parliamentary and organizational I didn't see that as a good end point or an end point at all and felt that that was another reason to be less supportive of the prime minister than they should have been I frankly think that particular criticism is just abject rubbish turnbull found himself in an endless political tug-of-war on issue after issue he would compromise to appease the Conservatives only to steadily alienate his supporters I think part of price of Malcolm winning the prime ministership was some degree of selling his his soul if you like to the National Party and the conservative wing so I think for all the time really that he's been there he's been or certainly since the last election he's been wedged and not just from one side but from both sides so he's criticized for not being left enough and he's criticized for not being right enough and that's a very very hard place from which to function and because he had Abbott sniping at him from the right all the time and trying to wedge him he had to lose the moderates of the Liberal Party and there's a whole large chunk of modulae they dismiss them as the doctors wives but there's been there there and there they are decent honorable intelligent people and they could see that the terminal they thought they had got to lead them was being dragged further thirds of the right to do as conciliation the level of public disenchantment with the major parties the lack of confidence in our political process and the concern about the direction of our nation is very very strong throughout 2017 the already toxic relationship between Turnbull and the Conservatives of worsened with Cory Bernardi quitting the Liberal Party and Abbott taking potshots from the back bench its Tony Abbott being helpful well I'm not going to comment on on the gentleman you described you deferred to but let me just say this about the budget well certainly Tony has contributed to a degree of intense debate if I can put it in those terms but this is a much more volatile political situation than it used to be and certainly Tony has very effectively appealed to the conservative base of the Liberal Party and I'm not apportioning blame by the way I think that there is a sense by some in the party that there is unfinished business and this is now manifesting itself in the degree of instability that we are now seeing I think what tony has done is really regrettable lamentable he has destabilized he has you know really done everything he could to make things as difficult as possible for Malcolm Turnbull the day I became president about 13 14 months ago I said something totally but now disunity is death if we can't get our act together we're going to lose well it wasn't a great insight and it's not a great insight today but it's obviously true the relentless infighting like a repeat of the rut Gillard in and outside Parliament with a sense of despair if this is both sides of politics I think people are really disappointed they see Canberra as people concerned about power plays their own egos and about their own careers and about what they want to achieve for themselves there's lots of things that we've done very well but we get consumed all the time and have been for 10 years on both sides of politics about this leadership play which is I think demeaning the institution of our democracy there's been a concerted coordinated campaign between a very very small number of members of parliament federal parliamentary Liberal Party and frankly a pretty small number of of media that are concentrated in a handful of of outlets or newspapers and I think in my 30 or 40 years in public life I don't remember a more blatant media campaign which didn't just say oh well the Prime Minister didn't do this well but actually said well this other bloke should still be the leader since the financial crisis however Turnbull's relationship with his coalition partner the Nationals was also fraying there was deep anger over his refusal to call the Royal Commission into the banking sector until he did so in a belated about-face cabinet is met this morning and is determined that the only way we can give all Australians a greater degree of assurance about the financial system is through a Royal Commission into misconduct into the financial services industry it took you know a number of National Party backbenchers to drag the Prime Minister kicking and screaming to this decision for some in the Nationals Turnbull's public chastising of Barnaby Joyce over his marriage broke up was beyond the pale Barnaby made a shocking error of judgment in having an affair with a young woman working in his office in doing so he has set off a world of woe for those women and appalled all of us the gang guys the conflict left another burned enemy smouldering on the back bench in regards comments by the Prime Minister yesterday at his press conference I have to say that in many instances they were they were they caused further harm I believe they were in many instances inept and most definitely in many instances unnecessary there were reports that you said of Malcolm Turnbull words to the effect of you know that he will regret having both Tony Abbott and yourself on the back bench now well I've always said when I was the deputy that role the deputies to protect the leader and always believed that role the deputy Prime Minister's protect the Prime Minister and I think I live by that Creed and and you know that's and if there was any regret it's that I do think our I was an able person in in doing that and and so if there's any regrets and it's a right question for you to ask is that I think you can see what happens if you need that person do you trust him look I think that he I have there are all politicians in here Bill Shorten Malcolm Turnbull they're all politicians right and he in in the game of politics it is it's it's nefarious by nature so the question really should be do you completely trust any politician to which my answer is No now 28 consecutive news pals are up as the polls continued to slide Turnbull's detractors waited with seeming Glee for the landmark 30th negative news poll and I guess if he fails the test it'll be the prime minister who will have to explain why the test was right for one and not right for the other it'll be up to him to tell us all why the test doesn't apply well I I can assure you I've addressed it I mean I regret making those remarks at the time making remarks about 30 news polls at the time and but what I promised to do was to provide economic leadership and traditional cabinet government and I've done both that was the KPI that he seemed so those people who have been agitating have been saying we'll look this is the situation we're getting you know we've gone beyond the 30 we've gone 31 32 and and and and Counting and so those people who have been working and and and moving and agitating have continued along that line as I said I think this has been something that's been building and it's been building over a period of time and I think once it got to that number that's when I think the serious the seriousness of the situation for those who who have been working towards this objective I think that's when it came into play it plays into what I think is a is a huge problem with the Australian polity and that is that the political class have become obsessed with opinion polls I mean even two years out from an election they're obsessed with whether they're winning or losing in the news poll every fortnight or they're you know Fairfax hip sauce poll it's just less frequent they're just obsessed with this and a long way out from an election honestly it doesn't really matter what the polls say on July 28th the government faced a series of polls that really mattered the Super Saturday by-elections called after four MPs were declared ineligible by the High Court and another resigned for family reasons I always had great concerns with that those having those by-elections that we might somehow create some false hope that we'd win no no government had won a by-election for a century over a century and they were some unique special circumstances where the sitting member was tried for treason or something like that so it's almost impossible for a seeing government to expected to win abolish and so I think the the false hope that we created only set us up for a big fall in another era of judgement Turnbull had cast the critical poll in the seat of Longman in Queensland as a leadership contest between himself and labour leader Bill Shorten well the Longwood by-election is obviously a tested the candidates tested the parties but really it is about deciding but for the people belonging to decide whether they want to vote for Bill Shorten and his higher taxes fewer jobs lower wages less economic growth the head up the contest is between me and Bill Shorten as the Prime Minister and the opposition leader what about Malcolm Turnbull saying it was a test of his and Bill Shorten his leadership was that a mistake I think clearly clearly a mistake I was always getting told that Longman wasn't a chance for us so I was always surprised that we were talking it up as especially as we got closer to the day I wasn't privy to polling but anyone that I knew who was saying we're not a chance in Longman we think we had a bit of a chance in bradden but Loehmann's out of it out of the game so i think maybe there was some bad and building of expectations in long run that didn't didn't come to fruition what was my question for Peter Dutton and his Queensland colleagues the Longman by-election would be a turning point absolutely safe I mean you would expect labour to be miles ahead in polls it's been obviously 90 years since the government's had any prospect of taking a seat from the opposition in a by-election [Music] mr. Dutton mr. Dutton give the good virus of long when this state the results were a disaster the liberal vote in Longman dropped by close to 10 percent labour secured a swing of 4.5% [Applause] but tonight we've had two great wins already and I'm hearing pretty good things from Western Australia the one nation vote went up to 16% and Pauline Hanson wasn't even there the wake-up call wake up wake up remember more people voted for a lady who was on holidays in the Irish Sea she wasn't even there and 16 percent voted for her and we got a vote in the 20s and Labour Party go to vote in the 30s it's not just lesson for us it's listen for the Labour Party it's a lesson for the political system you people are leaving you we are bleeding votes to the right that's obvious where it's happening and of course once those votes bleed to the right we do not have control over where they go so what is vitally important for us is to ensure that those votes don't go to other small right-wing parties like one nation or others there's no absolutely there's no well there's no basis for saying that at all this is a this was a conventional swing in one-electron he said that this fire election contest was about they have an industry leader that's that that is not correct the the by-elections are about many issues they're about the candidates they're about local issues they're about national policies they're about national leaders okay I think we have to look to win the next election we've got to be able to win in Queensland we've got about seven or eight very marginal seats in Queensland that would forward a few percent so the first thing we've got a whole Queensland obviously with Longman I think there was a lot of concern that the primary vote was not as high as it should have been but government's very rarely wing win by elections and I felt that really the concern of the Queenslanders was was unnecessary we could have very quickly rebuilt after Longman but clearly others felt differently those less than favorable by election results were the product of a weak party organisation the Liberal Party is a moribund organisation it's a shell of an organization it has got a membership that nationally totals probably no more than 35 or 40 thousand I think the mistake was more in our lack of political smarts in setting expectations I mean we had polling and the polling told us that our vote was soft yet virtually every published media poll indicated it was line ball so we knew or had a fairly good idea that in fact that wasn't the case so yeah of course the the lawman outcome was you know was a peg a spur if you like to those who wanted to were to tear the government and more particularly the Prime Minister down within weeks the government was imploding sitting in the lead-up to the party room it became much more apparent that there was a growing level of restlessness paid his own admission on media indicated that he was giving serious consideration to a leadership challenge at some point and it's fundamentally trundled forward from there if you told me five years ago I'd being part of a Praetorian Guard to protect the Prime Minister I would have thought you're you're joking but that's what's ended up being the case well for me and I think for others there's been an atmosphere of disbelief of like what is going on all leadership challenges have that I think this one probably more than others rather I think this one was maybe like the first time Rudd was deposed was unpredicted and I think there's a feeling of disbelief it's not every day that a sitting Prime Minister throws his leadership on the line as Malcolm Turnbull did here Malcolm Turnbull securing of 48 votes to Peter Dutton's 35 and there as much to flow from that result I think everyone was in shock I think the dial cast who irrespective of what the Prime Minister did in that learning on the Tuesday but he'd effectively his idea was to put him into it it did the exact reverse the reality is Prime Minister you have 35 people behind you who this morning voted not to have you was their leader and I predict that number we'll get larger this is not a cathedral is not a monastery it's not a daycare center this is Parliament House by its very nature it has a nefarious aspect and to deny that is to lie which means you're not trustworthy so I'm telling you the truth that in any politician there in the essence of survival there is basically an essence of of having to work in that sort of dark art of politics if you were completely transparent completely honest you you won't survive here Herr Prime Minister without power and without policy that's how Malcolm Turnbull has been described today after he narrowly survived a leadership vote against his Home Affairs Minister the laws of arithmetic Peter Dutton says when the numbers add up for him he's coming to get your job how do you respond well it's we had a we had a ballot earlier this week as you know so I think yet yesterday in fact so the iron laws of arithmetic confirmed my leadership with the Liberal Party yeah this is my leader you know I'm ambitious for him Thanks coma the prime minister's political crisis is worsening following a challenge to his leadership a total of seven front benches have offered their resignations Malcolm Turnbull may have gone into the party room believing he could shut the insurgency down instead it set off four days of chaos nine front benches who supported Peter Dutton's leadership challenge have tendered their resignations one by one Peter Dutton's conservative backers resigned from the front bench while behind the scenes Dutton escalated his campaign I lost the ballot today I accept the outcome and for me I just want to be in a position now to support the government make sure that we win so now no it's not been no undermining no sniping no undermining and and you know I can I can relax a little bit which is which is good but so just after 8 o'clock on Wednesday evening here in Parliament House and there's a petition that it's going around there's been signed by several members I'm not sure how many are requesting a special party room meeting had to decide the leadership it doesn't need any particular number of signatures that's the party room rules are there's nothing actually written down that's at the prime minister's discretion but for there to be a change of leader it require 43 votes in the party room if and when a special part of ammonia Zelda there was a very chaotic night in Parliament House on Wednesday night people were going in and out of Malcolm Turnbull's office for much of Wednesday night as this unfolded now versions of what happened in in those various meetings on Wednesday night vary depending on who you speak to one version of events has Matthias Korman on Wednesday night making his position abundantly clear to the Prime Minister on Wednesday night and offering to resign and Malcolm Malcolm Turnbull refusing to accept that resignation another version is more shaded that milk that Matthias Corman didn't make his position entirely known to the prime minister he made it known to the treasurer who then made it known to the prime minister and then all kinds of friends in negotiations ensued and I have to demonstrate my disappointment and disgust in what's been going on in Australian politics over 10 you I will not be going to the coalition party room I will sit on the cross bench support the government in supply and not support no-confidence motion earlier this morning I called the Prime Minister to advise him that it was my judgment that the majority of the party room no longer supported his leadership as such I asked him to convene a meeting of the Liberal Party and which I would challenge for the leadership of the parliamentary liberal party thank you very much what you've got to understand about Parliament House for those that haven't been here is that the offices there are long corridors and it's very easy to work out who's coming in and out of offices and there are thousands of people that work in this building on a daily basis and as a result rumor and innuendo quite often flies around the place based on who's we threw in a coffee shop or coming out of an office going into an office morning everyone it's with great sadness and a heavy heart that we went to see the Prime Minister yesterday afternoon to advise him that in our judgement he no longer enjoyed the support of a majority of members in the Liberal Party party room and that it was in the best interest I felt a great sense of despair when I saw mikania matthias and Mitch come out into the courtyard and and make those statements and do that press conference he looked quite anguish when he's announcing that he and five fielding cash had decided to tap the PM on the shoulder because only an hour before he went to see the PM he was out the courtyard saying I've been soil to the promise of Turnbull and will remain loyal and then bingo it's over it was probably a turning point in his grateful turning point because you see somebody who stands beside a prime minister commits to supporting the Prime Minister and then within a very short period of time comes forward and says that they have lost confidence in the Prime Minister further meeting with the Prime Minister this morning Corman said they were switching sides because Turnbull no longer had majority support but in fact it was their move that would cost him the leadership room is officially burning when Matthias Corman has abandoned the Prime Minister but even that wasn't enough over the course of Thursday I'm told by multiple sources that Matthias Corman and Macaulay Akash walked that petition from office to office in an effort to try and summon the signatures to force the spittle and and then people hesitated I had a number of conversations with the Peter Dutton camp I'm not going to talk about those conversations other than to say there was a suggestion floated that I might obtain a ministry and I couldn't take that deal because I felt my constituents would be disgusted in me if I had taken that deal and switched sides to Peter Dutton it would not have been the right thing to do it would have been treacherous of me frankly to take that deal so I've had three female 1 senator and two members of the house complained to me that they felt stood over in in trying to sign a letter which is now been asked for by the prime minister and you know that's clearly not acceptable those three women didn't sign the letter but the term they used was we were stood over the leader of the house I move that the house do now adjourn this is extraordinary what is happening right now is the government have decided that this place has fallen apart so completely that they are dissolving the Parliament for the day entirely with the government completely consumed by the leadership turmoil the House of Representatives was adjourned the house stands adjourned until Monday 10 September 2018 at 10:00 a.m. [Applause] Malcolm Turnbull knew his leadership was over but he wasn't going quietly well good to welcome you into the courtyard here now Australians will be rightly appalled by what they're witnessing in their nation's Parliament today and in the course of this week the reality is that a a minority in the party room supported by others outside the Parliament have sought to bully intimidate others into making this change of leadership that they're seeking it is a it's been described by many people including those who feel they cannot resist it as a form of madness the Prime Minister who has not made a habit in the time he's occupied the office of staring down his enemies his whole inclination as Prime Minister has been to coddle his enemies to make peace with his enemies to try and find a middle ground with his enemies by the end of the week the Prime Minister found his fight and we saw the Prime Minister appear in his own courtyard and and essentially lay out the terms of his own execution and they were extraordinary terms it was the equivalent of burning the barn salting the plane and poisoning the waterholes so I now await a letter with the signatures of a majority of the party room if I receive it as 43 if I receive that then I will convene a new party room meeting tomorrow families moved will you will you remain in the parliament until the end of the term no I've made it very clear that I believe that former Prime Minister's are best out of the Parliament and I don't think there's much evidence to suggest that that conclusion is correct there's not corrected I've been in this building for 22 years I've covered every leadership challenge over the past decade I have never seen one quite like this it has been mad the atmosphere around the building has been unhinged I don't invoke these words lightly there has been behind the scenes arm-twisting bullying of all types people are people are incoherent people are there's there's this very poor organization the Liberal Party doesn't have the institutional discipline of the Labour Party to sort of drive these terrible transactions through in a clean clear way so we've seen absolute chaos behind the scenes for several days if the motion is carried I will it's got more frantic since the Prime Minister still do his announced that he's finished with the letter that has 43 signatures he'll call a party learning and if there's a spill motion moved and he's he's not successful in defeating that he would not work and test the position mr. damu you expect amazing Dutton's supporters were spreading the word that he had the numbers going back to the point that I made earlier we are bleeding votes to the right that is it's like the furniture it's walking out the door it's going out the door and so for this reason there is a view correctly or otherwise that a person with conservative credentials at this point in time may have a better chance of preserving the situation I've had many many emails hundreds of emails from people expressing their view there was an overwhelming view in my electorate that they did not want Peter Dutton as the next prime minister Turnbull's moved to delay the vote was buying the moderates more time Scott Morrison's numbers men were hard at work he some breaking news for you I'm told reliably that Mitch Fifield has shifted support from Dutton now to Scott Morrison in which fire field is now with Scott Morrison in the race I think that's a quite significant developers at 12:20 p.m. on Friday the party room reconvened now you're about to go to the party room meeting presumably you'll be walking to the party room meeting with the Prime Minister yes what's his thinking at this point look at me I I don't know however I do know that he's an amazing man and the honor of having get to not only know him but become a good night if he's is a plus that I'll enjoy for the rest of my life and this is the last walk really isn't it Ben yeah and it's sad and it's um it's emotional as someone that is been a staunch supporter protector and friend it's bloody tough it was very very tense it was obviously unbelievable when the vote occurred and against the Spill motion and forty people including myself voted against the Spill motion and had three people changed their vote Malcolm Turnbull would still be our prime minister after wreaking havoc on the party peter Dutton's conservative insurgency had failed the successful candidate was Scott Morrison the exact story of how Scott Morrison came through the middle is yet to be told and Turnbull was gone but may surprise you on a day like this but I remain very optimistic and positive about our nation's future I think you all know what's happened there was a determined insurgency from a number of people both in the party room and-and-and-and of backed by voices powerful voices in the media really to bring if not bring down the government certainly bring down my prime ministership it was it was extraordinary it was described as madness by many and I think it's difficult to describe it in any other way in the party room meeting today I was impressed by how many of my colleagues spoke or voted for loyalty above disloyalty how the insurgents were not rewarded by electing mr. Dutton for example but instead the my successor who I wish the very best of course he shattered as I think anyone in his position would be and I'm left scratching me saying geez wow that happened really fast I think Australians are disgusted that we have cut down another prime minister I've been in the Prime Minister's Office after of course the vote occurred and it's been a very sad time there have been plenty of tears in the party room I had some tears when I heard about Malcolm being such a great father and great-grandfather that's what really got me so it's been a very emotional and tumultuous week and I want to apologize to the people I represent because I think we can do better than this this revolving door thing the rudd-gillard-rudd and then abbott Turnbull a out there in the real world people are sick of it I've talked to people who've voted like three times now and not one of them if their people they voted for is gone full term I mean John how is the last leader to go a full term insofar as there has been chaos this week it has been created by the records I have done everything I can to maintain the stability of government and the stand the stability of the party but of course if people are determined to wreck then you know they will continue to do so [Applause] I think half of the battle half of the reasons why we've had this turmoil over the last decade is because we're a country without ambition and those who are Canberra of those who lead the organization's ability have got to accept responsibility for that and what we've seen over the last week and what we saw with run and Gillard and Gillard and Abbott and Abbott of Turnbull is a reflection of a country without direction [Music] the public aren't interested in all of this bellybutton gazing inviting that they don't believe it's got anything to do with that level of renewables or any sort of policy issue it's all rubbish it's about individuals it's about ego it's about greed and the public don't like it they didn't like it when our opponents were doing it and they don't like it when we're doing it [Music] [Music] [Applause] you you you

Channel: ABC News In-depth

Views: 688,886

Keywords: Australia, Liberal Party, Malcolm Turnbull, Scott Morrison, Peter Dutton, libspill, spill, Four Corners, A form of madness, Coalition, Julie Bishop, politics, auspol

Id: 3VHvoClQe8o

Length: 57min 43sec (3463 seconds)

Published: Mon Aug 27 2018

Reddit Comments

[u/Ben_The_Stig]

Watch Monday’s media watch after this to fill in a few gaps. Really interesting and mind numbing at the same time.

[u/nounverbyou]

Interesting how libs fear that “moderate” liberal voters will swing to greens at marginal seats next election