Sky News doco exposes new details of Malcolm Turnbull spill
Scott Morrison has made a big admission as one MP copped the blame for knifing Malcolm Turnbull, who also had a secret weapon camped out in his office.
Scott Morrison has revealed for the first time how he secured the numbers to defeat Peter Dutton in last year’s leadership spill in an explosive new documentary.
One of Malcolm Turnbull’s closest allies has also unleashed on Mathias Cormann, blaming him for the “mortal wound” that ultimately killed off any chance Turnbull had to remain Prime Minister.
Insider details of how the former prime minister was knifed were revealed tonight in the first episode of Sky News’s Bad Blood/ New Blood mini-series.
It also lifts the lid on Turnbull’s desperate efforts to hold onto his job, including how he secretly called in veteran MP Arthur Sinodinos, who camped out in his office and coached him on how to thwart Dutton.
Opposition leader Anthony Albanese has responded to last night’s documentary by describing the Coalition as a “rabble” that remains internally divided.
“The fact that some of them have retreated to the beach doesn’t mean the conflicts won’t continue. They really don’t like each other,” he told Adelaide radio 5AA today.
FIVE THINGS WE LEARNT FROM BAD BLOOD
1) Malcolm Turnbull’s closest ally Craig Laundy laid the blame for how the spill played out squarely at Mathias Cormann’s door.
In an interview that exposes the bad blood still in Liberal ranks, Laundy said: “Our problem was we’d banked Mathias’ support. And that ended up being the piece of the puzzle that brought the whole tent down.”
“It was devastating. And it turned out to be the mortal wound.”
Asked if he blamed Mitch Fifield and Michaelia Cash as well as Cormann, Laundy said: “It’s more Mathias.”
The trio publicly withdrew their support from Turnbull in a press conference on the Thursday morning of ‘spill week’, which opened the floodgates for other ministers to resign.
“When someone of that stature goes, it sends a very powerful message and it’s one that’s very hard to combat,” Laundy said.
He revealed they hadn’t spoken since.
Cormann admitted the spill had cost him friends in the party but defended his actions and denied he had ever betrayed Turnbull.
“I was absolutely truthful to him to his face,” he said.
“When I formed the view that he no longer enjoyed majority support in the party room and I formed the view that he no longer enjoyed my support, I told him directly, personally in a one-on-one conversation and I offered my resignation.”
Cormann also refused to comment on whether Turnbull offered Dutton the deputy leader position after the first spill.
He was the only other person present when the two spoke. Turnbull denies he made Dutton that offer.
2) Arthur Sinodinos was secretly camped out in Malcolm Turnbull’s office from early on Thursday morning of ‘spill week’ to emerge, if needed, as a surprise extra vote.
He was also helping advise Turnbull on tactics, using his decades of political expertise from first serving as John Howard’s chief of staff for nine years then as a Senator and minister.
Turnbull shocked many that week with his delay tactics, which included demanding a petition with 43 signatures before he would call a second party room meeting to enable a spill.
He also requested urgent legal advice on Peter Dutton’s eligibility to be in parliament.
Dutton himself slams the “stalling tactic”, saying: “That was Malcolm just going back into the ‘Packer lawyer’ or the merchant banker mode to destroy your enemy.”
Sinodinos told documentary host David Speers he flew to Canberra at Turnbull’s request.
He had been on leave for months receiving treatment for cancer.
“I came down first thing on the Thursday morning and camped in the PM’s office,” Sinodinos said.
“I encouraged him to insist on getting the 43 signatures and playing for time because I thought it was important for the party room to have time to really consider the implications of what they were doing.”
3) Two Liberal MPs openly accused Scott Morrison of helping Peter Dutton’s backers get the numbers to call the second spill.
“Five of clearly the Morrison camp voted for the spill and voted to say no to Malcolm Turnbull and then those votes obviously went that way,” Concetta Fierravanti-Wells said.
Fierravanti-Wells, who backed Dutton, added: “Numbers always tell their own story.”
Craig Laundy also backed the claim. “I wouldn’t mind betting the 43 signatures and the length of delay in the time that it took to get those actually ended up being time that Scott needed to muster the numbers,” he said.
Asked if Morrison’s forces signed the petition to call the spill, Laundy said: “I suspect so. If I was them, that’s how I would have done it.”
Senior Liberal frontbencher Simon Birmingham today dodged questions about whether Mr Morrison’s supporters helped engineer the coup against Mr Turnbull.
Speaking to ABC this morning after the documentary aired last night, the Trade Minister said Australians had clearly put the spill behind them by voting to re-elect the government on May 18.
Asked if Australians cared that the Coalition still appeared to be divided given MPs had unleashed on each other last night, Senator Birmingham said: “I don’t think so.”
“I think that the government, through its leadership and through the Cabinet ranks, really is focused on the job at hand and has a strong sense of unity, purpose and direction at present,” he said.
“We took the message from the Australian people that they want lower taxes not higher.
“Anthony Albanese and the Labor Party are still struggling to grapple with that message as they oppose tax cuts and relief.”
Senator Birmingham, a senior figure in the Liberal’s moderate faction, also noted Mr Turnbull’s “wonderful legacy” had put the Coalition in a position to be able to deliver lower taxes.
4) Scott Morrison spoke openly for the first time about how he secured the numbers to defeat Peter Dutton.
“I talked to my colleagues,” he told Speers. “They were very aware of the position that I had taken all the way up until that point and the support I had provided (Malcolm).
“And it was really then about who was in the best position to take us forward.”
Morrison added: “The country had just been through a very traumatic experience and they were looking for someone to just take hold of this and tell them that it would be okay.”
Asked if he thought Turnbull could have won the election, Morrison said: “I did.”
Arthur Sinodinos implied Morrison had been proposing himself as an alternative candidate to Dutton earlier than the public realised.
“Julie was loyal to Malcolm right to the end so that meant that she didn’t start canvassing or seeking people’s votes til late in the piece,” he said.
“And I think what had happened in the meantime is that Scott and others had been working to lock people away.”
5) Christopher Pyne recalled the exact moment he started looking for a candidate to replace Malcolm Turnbull - and why he didn’t back Julie Bishop.
Pyne told Sky it was when Turnbull said he would spill the leadership if Dutton’s backers could get a majority of signatures for a petition to call a partyroom meeting.
The former Defence Minister revealed his first instinct was to back Morrison over fellow moderate, Bishop, when it became clear Turnbull couldn’t remain leader.
“Malcolm said to Scott and Julie: ‘You two need to sort yourselves out,’ I think were the words he used,” Pyne said.
“My initial thought was that Scott would probably have votes that Julie wouldn’t have, which is exactly as it turned out.”
The second episode of the Bad Blood/ New Blood mini-series airs on Wednesday night at 8pm on Sky News Live and Foxtel.
Originally published as Sky News doco exposes new details of Malcolm Turnbull spill
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