Piers Akerman: PM Malcolm Turnbull’s lack of guts is heart of his problem

Blaming everyone but himself for Malcolm Turnbull’s government’s problems is not the solution because he is the problem, Piers Akerman writes.

Piers Akerman.

THIS will truly be the winter of Malcolm Turnbull’s discontent. Blaming everyone but himself for his government’s problems is not the solution because he is the problem.

It is clear that he has no idea about strategy or tactics and that retail politics is not in his elitist DNA.

Having campaigned as an ABC-loving left-leaning inner-urban activist against his predecessor Tony Abbott, whom he ridiculed as a right-wing ­extremist, he shifted the Liberal Party to the centre-left.

Now centrists are depicted as being to the right, even on the lunar right, according to some of Turnbull’s media ­barrackers.

Instead of questioning why so many Liberals began voting for conservative candidates who didn’t follow Turnbull, the federal Liberal Party ­condemned them.

The party has lost thousands of members since ­Turnbull ousted Abbott.

The haemorrhaging will only continue.

South Australian Senator Cory Bernardi’s decision to go it alone was ridiculed by ­Turnbull yet Bernardi’s supporters now number in the tens of thousands with a paid membership probably greater than half that of the SA Liberals and two-thirds that of the SA Labor Party.

PM Malcolm Turnbull is in serious trouble, Piers Akerman writes. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

A dramatic express of the numbers who are seeking a better, more centrist way forward reflective of the broad ­desires of the Australian electorate, not necessarily in line with the Islamic-influenced MPs like the Liberals Craig Laundy or Labor’s Ed Husic.

Turnbull expresses his contempt for those who believe that 18C is an ugly stain on Australia’s commitment to free speech but the death of brilliant cartoonist Bill Leak on Friday shows how the strain of waging the honest and principled fight for such a fundamental right takes a dreadful toll on those whom government instrumentalities like the grotesque Human Right Commission subject to their relentless purgatories of process.

NSW Police moved quickly to offer Bill protection from lunatic (oxymoron alert) jihadis but no one could protect him from the AHRC when it dealt with complaints against his brilliantly insightful cartooning of the disgusting offence industry it wilfully promoted.

Neither Turnbull nor the Liberal Party panjandrums at the federal or state levels are embracing the issues raised by those who are leaving.

If they conducted exit interviews they would hear this regularly — received from a senior (former) long-time member of a state Liberal Party council — “I have come to the conclusion that the ­federal party has swung away from me, not the other way around.”

The listed reasons for the decision included, among others, that being a member of a “broad church political party does not include being part of a broad Gay Mardi Gras brothel, where federal NSW Liberal MPs members openly display Liberal Party branding during the Mardi Gras. I’m not anti-gay, but I do not support same sex marriage and I do not support the whole scene that comes with it, that Turnbull and crew are behind. Turnbull sees no problem with the military being in the parade. This is madness.”

Other reasons for leaving the Liberals included opposition to republicanism and changing the Australian Constitution in order to recognise specific racial groups, regardless of who they might be.

Or changes to the aged ­pension and superannuation which discourage saving, unlike in New Zealand, where people are given incentive to save.

“There are 300,000 really annoyed pensioners out there at the moment, who are being forced to carry the can for everyone else, under false socialist Greens ­ideology.”

Or the failure to reject identity politics and condemn the states that continue to embrace the Marxist-­inspired Safe Schools agenda.

Or Turnbull’s posturing with promoters of Islam, including the clueless ABC staffer Yassmin Abdel-Magied, Waleed Aly and his wife Susan Carland.

All of the above concerns were provided by those who are leaving or who have left the Liberal Party recently, but they are by no means all of the reasons given.

They all reflect aspects of Turnbull’s leadership but he is unlikely to change. He is the same person he was when he was in business and when he was leader of the Liberal Party the last time around.

His personal style is fatally flawed by his inability to make a decision. Australians don’t ask for much but they do crave stability in government.

The May Budget should have been the platform upon which to deliver that stability but already the discussion about another Cabinet reshuffle is sucking the oxygen out of whatever message the Budget was to have delivered.

The party has lost thousands of members since ­Turnbull ousted Abbott. The haemorrhaging will only continue.

If there is speculation about the new Treasurer now, what stature will Scott Morrison have, with what authority will he speak, when he brings down the Budget?

Why are senior ministers discussing the reshuffle if it hasn’t been discussed already, or was the discussion just another example of Turnbull’s thinking out loud?

What does it say about the Cabinet process or lack of process when statements of policy are made only to be withdrawn or abandoned within hours or days?

Turnbull’s constant defence is that unless conservatives rally around, the nation will wind up with Bill Shorten, a nightmarish proposition indeed, but Turnbull shows no self-knowledge, no understanding that his flawed approach, his lack of a core has brought things to this pass.

He doesn’t understand that the ball is not with his attackers, it is with him.

Conservatives don’t want Labor to destroy the nation but they would like a demonstrably conservative government, not an indecisive soft-left apology for centrism.