John Howard backs Malcolm Turnbull to win the next election at the Liberal Federal Council meeting
AS Malcolm Turnbull called on Liberal MPs to ensure voters know that Bill Shorten and Labor cannot be trusted, Liberal MPs were pushing for the ABC to be privatised.
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PRIME Minister Malcolm Turnbull told Liberal Party MPs that Bill Shorten is a “gigantic risk to our economy”, and Labor cannot be trusted.
Mr Turnbull attacked Mr Shorten on his tax and energy policies, saying he was “anti-business” and too focused on taxing Australians.
he then went on to list the Liberal party’s achievements, saying Labor does not have a strong record that can be compared.
“They will say and do anything they can to get elected and in government they will go after every dollar of tax they can, because as we know, Labor cannot be trusted with the economy. We have a strong record. We have delivered a stronger economy,” he said.
“We have delivered more jobs, we are securing Australia’s future. We have in these challenging and frankly more dangerous times put unprecedented additional investment into our national security agencies, and into the ADF.
“We have commissioned the construction of 54 new Naval vessels. In six years of government, Labor did not commission one. Not one!
“We are putting the billions of dollars to be drug, the billions of dollars into hospital, the billions into Medicare, the billions into research because of the stronger economy that we have delivered and because we believe in Australians. All of that is put at risk by Labor.”
Mr Turnbull accused Labor of lying and called on MPs to use their political platforms to tell voters what the government is doing.
“They are lying again and again and their view is that some of the lies will work, “ he said.
“And we have to make sure that they don’t. That’s why it’s very important for all of us here and every party member and supporter to use all of the social media at your disposal — you may only have a few hundred people that are following you or you can reach. Doesn’t matter. Make sure that those antidotes of fact — here are the facts, this is the record.”
Mr Turnbull was introduced by Julie Bishop, who said the party was “united” under Mr Turnbull’s leadership.
“Under Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull the Cabinet is united and focused on delivering good policies for the Australian people. And our Prime Minister who inspires us with his enthusiasm, his optimism, his vision and his intellect will lead our Parliamentary team to the next election and we will win because we can promise stable and good government for the people of Australia,” she said.
CALL TO PRIVATISE THE ABC
But her comments fly in the face of a motion passed at the Liberal federal council meeting today, where members called on the Turnbull Government to move Australia’s embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, and privatise the ABC, showing a difference in their viewpoints.
The council endorsed a motion calling on the Turnbull Government to follow the US and move Australia’s embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said she could understand the sentiment but declared Australia would not be moving its embassy.
“Jerusalem is a final status issue and we have maintained that position for decades,” Ms Bishop said.
Despite her intervention, the motion passed 43 votes to 37.
None of the motions at the federal council is binding, but they reveal more insight into the inner thinking of the Liberal Party and its MPs.
The council also voted in favour of a Young Liberal bid calling for the, “full privatisation of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, except for services into regional areas”.
Communications Minister Mitch Fifield made it clear that would not occur.
HOWARD: WHY TURNBULL CAN WIN
FORMER prime minister John Howard has declared that any politician who says they don’t look at the polls is having you on.
Mr Howard delivered his address at the Liberal federal council, where he conceded that the polls were close but the Coalition government was ahead of Labor.
He confessed that he still looks at the polls, and was encouraged by the low primary vote for the Opposition.
He also threw his support behind Australia’s current Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and said that he thought he could still win the next federal election.
He added that he thought Mr Turnbull was going in to the election in a better position now after he turned the government’s fortunes.
“I think Malcolm Turnbull will win the next election, I think things are going better now than they have been for the last six months,” Mr Howard said.
“There’s no point in pretending we haven’t had a few ups and downs and haven’t been behind in the polls.”
Mr Howard, who was Australia’s second-longest serving prime minister, said when the government changed in 1996, 2007 and 2013, the opposition was in a stronger position every time.
“On each of those occasions the primary vote of the winning party was in the middle 40s for a consistent period of six or 12 months before the election,” he said.
“The Labor primary vote has been stuck below 40 per cent for a very long time. “That is a salutary reminder, although there may be irritation and disappointment with us, there is no enthusiasm for the replacement.”
Mr Howard’s comment come after Mr Turnbull’s MPs have been urged to get behind him and stop “lazy” infighting in the lead up to the next election.
Federal Party president Nick Greiner has pleaded with his party to stop distracting from Mr Turnbull’s election chances He also used a speech at the Liberal federal council in Sydney to note the party’s issues with diversity, fundraising and getting grassroots support.
“We’ve occasionally been a bit lazy and self-indulgent when we give our own internal tiffs, our internal arguments, priority over the wellbeing of our party overall,” Mr Greiner told the council on Friday.
The former NSW premier also said having more diversity in the party was not a “philosophical bun fight” but showed the party reflected voters. “We always say we’re about merit. Of course we’re about merit. But merit means having the better parliamentary team,” Mr Greiner said.
“It is very hard to have the better parliamentary team if our team does not represent the community it hopes to serve.” The federal executive met just before the council started, and spent a significant part of the meeting dealing with how to get more women in the party and parliament.
Mr Greiner also called for a recruitment drive and a fundraising push to counter Labor’s union support.