Malcolm Turnbull’s expletive-ridden tirade at Tony Abbott 14 months before taking prime ministership
MALCOLM Turnbull gave Tony Abbott an expletive-ridden assessment of his 10 months as prime minister in a rant aboard a VIP plane after the pair and several ministers attended a lavish, boozy Sydney party.
MALCOLM Turnbull gave Tony Abbott a scathing, expletive-ridden assessment of his prime ministership in a rant aboard a government plane after the pair and several ministers attended a booze-fuelled, celebrity-studded Sydney party.
Fourteen months before he snatched the prime ministership, Mr Turnbull pulled the ripcord on Mr Abbott in a vitriolic spray on a plane with three ministers and five Coalition staff members. The critique was so venomous that several sources claim it even included the C-bomb.
A spokesman for Mr Turnbull said last night, however, he does not use that sort of language.
Asked about the incident today, Mr Abbott said”I didn’t talk about it then and I’m certainly not going to talk about it now”.
When asked on 2GB whether Mr Turnbull used vulgar language, Mr Abbott sidestepped the question. “I’m not going to go into the precise terminology that people use on different occasions.”
The Daily Telegraph can reveal how one of the great untold clashes between the Liberal Party heavyweights unfolded aboard the plush, wood-panelled VIP plane heading to Canberra after The Australian newspaper’s 50th birthday party in Sydney on July 15, 2014.
Earlier in the night Mr Turnbull was seated alongside Lachlan and Sarah Murdoch, James Packer, Kerry Stokes and then NSW premier Mike Baird at the event.
Mr Abbott sat at the head table beside Rupert Murdoch, former prime ministers John Howard and Paul Keating, former Reserve Bank governor Glenn Stevens and Aboriginal leader Noel Pearson. Opposition leader Bill Shorten also attended the dinner, along with Jeanne and Anthony Pratt, Qantas chief Alan Joyce and former Victorian premier Jeff Kennett.
When the dinner was over, Mr Abbott, Mr Turnbull and cabinet ministers Julie Bishop, Joe Hockey and George Brandis boarded a late-night VIP flight back to Canberra for the rest of the parliamentary sitting week.
The group continued the “jolly” atmosphere, drinking wine during the flight on board the plane used by the Royals on visits to Australia. Mr Turnbull is understood to have already had a few drinks at The Australian’s 50th birthday party, but Mr Abbott, who delivered a speech, limited his alcohol intake.
Fresh from socialising with Australia’s business and media elite, Mr Turnbull had sharp words for Mr Brandis on policy, and then let loose at Mr Abbott.
At the end of the flight, as they were about to disembark, Mr Turnbull is said to have given Mr Abbott a blistering assessment of his prime ministership — telling him he was “hopeless” and accusing him of being a “disloyal c ...”.
Three sources on board the plane recalled the use of the C-word.
Mr Abbott had just collected his bag from the plane’s prime minister’s suite and was standing with members of his staff and a federal police officer when the confrontation occurred.
One source on board the flight, who declined to be named, described Mr Turnbull’s comments as “belligerent”.
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“Tony went in to get his bag from the PM’s suite and Malcolm badgered him in that corridor. That’s where it happened,” the source said.
“It was Malcolm in full flight. Angry, bitter, (saying) you’re f ... ing hopeless, you’re a ‘f ... ing c ...’, you should resign. He got quite close to his face.”
A second passenger said the group were all “jolly” when they boarded.
“What I can recall at the end of the flight were some words where Turnbull berated Abbott in front of three of Abbott’s staffers to the words to the effect of, ‘You’re the most disloyal c ... I’ve ever met’,” the source said. “He was affected by alcohol. He castigated the prime minister in front of his staff. He castigated George.”
Sources close to Mr Turnbull recalled a heated discussion over policy.
The AFP officer who was within earshot is understood to have later raised the incident with Mr Abbott, but the then prime minister dismissed any concerns.
The Daily Telegraph has been told Mr Abbott also asked his cabinet colleagues and staff not to mention Mr Turnbull’s accusations again. “He said he didn’t want it spoken about,” one source said.
Mr Abbott declined to comment on the incident when contacted by The Daily Telegraph.
Defence Department records list 12 passengers on the flight, including five Coalition staffers and two AFP officers.