Malcolm Turnbull says he still doesn’t know why he was deposed as prime minister

MALCOLM Turnbull says the men behind the leadership coup — Peter Dutton, Mathias Cormann and Tony Abbott — need to explain to the public why they chose to “blow up the government”.

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MALCOLM Turnbull says the men behind the leadership coup — Peter Dutton, Mathias Cormann and Tony Abbott — need to explain to the public why they chose to “blow up the government”.

The former prime minister described his overthrow by conservative Liberals as “crazy” and “self-destructive” and said Bill Shorten was on track to win the next election, whereas, before he was rolled, the government was “thoroughly competitive” and was “level pegging” in the polls.

Malcolm Turnbull says the reasons behind the coup “remain unexplained”.

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Appearing on the ABC’s Q&A last night, Mr Turnbull was highly critical of the fact the reasons for the coup “remain unexplained” and said it was “painful” for him to speak about.

“The people who chose to act in a very self-destructive way to blow-up the government, they need to really explain why they did it and none of them have,” he said.

“I think it was crazy. It was pointless. Nobody has actually set out the reasons for it. Scott Morrison, the new prime minster, can’t explain it. There’s some issues there.

“I think Australians are entitled to know the answer. Every member of parliament should be accountable for what they do.

“It is actually quite painful to talk about, particularly when you don’t have the answers.”

By contrast, Mr Turnbull said he clearly set out his reasons for challenging Tony Abbott in September 2015 and claimed his decision to seize the leadership was “very warmly welcomed by the Australian people”.

“From my point of view, I had a justification which I was open about, an economic agenda and taking a more positive, inclusive approach to our society, but the bottom line is I delivered on it,” he said.

Mr Turnbull said he took Mr Morrison “at his word” that he did not play a role in the leadership coup.

Malcolm Turnbull says Scott Morrison didn’t plot against him but took advantage of a situation created by others. Picture: Kym Smith

However, he accepted a comparison between Mr Morrison and gold-medallist Steven Bradbury, where the new prime minister “took advantage of a situation that was created by others”.

“The insurgency was led by Peter Dutton. It was strongly supported by Tony Abbott and others. Scott did not support it and he has said that publicly,” he said.

Mr Turnbull said Labor leader Bill Shorten was the only beneficiary of the leadership spill, whereas his government had been in a competitive position to win the next election.

“In our own polling, the August track, we were 52,48 ahead,” he said.

He admitted he was surprised by the seniority of ministers who voted against him in the leadership spill in late August.

“I did not anticipate that people, particularly cabinet ministers, would act so self-destructively,” he said.

“The coup, it was so obvious that it was going to be destructive, that it was not going to be any upside to it, and of course that’s what’s turned out, that it really never occurred to me that senior members of the government, particularly people with such solemn responsibilities, Peter Dutton, Mathias Cormann, Greg Hunt, Steven Ciobo … it never occurred to me that those people would act in a way that would be so damaging to the government, the party and frankly the nation.”

Mr Turnbull says it never occurred to him that senior government members such as Peter Dutton would destabilise the government in the way they did. Picture: AAP

He said Liberal MPs who wanted Mr Turnbull to remain as prime minister were “intimidated and bullied” into supporting the spill because they wanted to put an end to the destabilisation.

“My view is you don’t give in to bullies, you don’t give in to that intimidation,” he said.

Speaking about the role of the media in his downfall, Mr Turnbull, once again, blamed Fairfax Media’s 2GB and Sky News, saying there was a “very consistent campaign waged against me”.

He said he spoke to News Corp executive co-chairman Rupert Murdoch to complain about the coverage on Sky News.

“The point that I made to him and to others in News Limited is that this sort of relentless campaign against me which was very personal and didn’t seem to have any rationale in terms of policy,” he said.

“He never conceded the point. But the point I always made was that the only beneficiary from all of this was Bill Shorten.”

Mr Turnbull claimed Kerry Stokes told him that Mr Murdoch thought he should go as leader and was prepared to put up with three years under Labor.

During the 50 minute Q&A program, Mr Turnbull also hit out at the culture for women in Parliament, describing it as “very blokey” and like a workplace environment from the ‘80s.

He said his “so-called bonking ban” is something he should not have had to introduce and “should be pretty obvious”.

Mr Turnbull, seen at his farewell press conference, says he will now go into business. Picture: AFP

“I believe the culture in Parliament is not sufficiently respectful of women,” he said.

“Scott Morrison absolutely shares my values on this.”

Mr Turnbull said he was not bitter or resentful about the end of his leadership and said he was “joyful” that he had had the opportunity to lead the country.

The former prime minister also defended his decision to stay away from the Wentworth by-election, blaming chaos in the Morrison government and Barnaby Joyce foreshadowing his own leadership ambitions for the loss of the safe Liberal seat.

“My judgment is that Dave Sharma would have won that election had it been held the Saturday before,” he said.

“I believe the by-election was lost in the last week. It was a pretty messy week for the government.”

He added that campaigning in his old seat “would not be very helpful for me maintaining my own peace of mind”.

Mr Turnbull denied he had ever asked former ABC chairman Justin Milne to sack reporters.

Mr Turnbull said he was concerned about accuracy and the quality of journalism at the ABC, but denied he had ever asked former ABC chairman, Justin Milne, to sack reporters.

“My concern was about particular examples of really inaccurate reporting and so my affection for and respect for the ABC is so great that I want it to be its best self and to get its journalism right,” he said.

“Now more than ever in the age of fake news and the twitter verse, we need the ABC to live up to its statutory charter of being accurate and objective.”

Despite his recent public interventions, Mr Turnbull said he had no intention of running a commentary on Mr Morrison’s government and would be returning to the business sector where he was looking for new investments.