Malcolm Turnbull’s hot air on energy guarantee is haunting Prime Minister Scott Morrison

Malcolm “miserable ghost” Turnbull yesterday stole any momentum from Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s win on a two-thirds majority rule to stop the leadership coups by opening up old wounds on a National Energy Guarantee.

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It took Malcolm Turnbull just a couple of hours to suck the air out of Scott Morrison’s day yesterday — hijacking a coalition energy announcement as the Prime Minister sought to sell his well-received reforms to end party room coups.

The former PM, who promised not to be a “miserable ghost” after leaving politics, delivered in short order: a major speech, a press conference, and a doorstop media chat. It was almost as if he had never left the top job.

And he again angered his former Liberal colleagues by urging the government to breathe new life into the National Energy Guarantee on the very day the government was settling its new big stick energy reforms.

Former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull delivers an address at the NSW Smart Energy Summit in Sydney on Tuesday. Picture: AAP

Mr Turnbull reminded voters that the policy once had backing of Mr Morrison and his deputy Josh Frydenberg, telling an energy summit in Sydney the NEG was “vital” to economic policy.

He claimed the federal government’s efforts on energy and climate change were “bedevilled by what I would call ideology and ignorance”, but denied that he himself walked away from a NEG before he was unceremoniously dumped as leader.

Senior coalition figures saw the remarks as being deeply undermining coming after a series of interventions by Mr Turnbull, who this week was caught out urging Liberals to defy the Prime Minister’s orders on preselections. Mr Turnbull’s comments were seized on by Labor as fuel for its attack on the government in parliament.

The former PM said he was not a troublemaker.

“I’m not a member of the parliament, I’m not seeking to undermine or unseat Scott Morrison — he has had a free run, as opposed to the conduct of Kevin Rudd and Tony Abbott,” he said.

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Mr Turnbull claimed the federal government’s efforts on energy and climate change were ‘bedevilled’ by ‘ideology and ignorance’. Picture: AAP

The government was already facing a difficult day after confirming it would water down its plans to force badly behaving energy companies to sell assets after concerns from industry and its own backbench.

Julie Bishop, Craig Laundy, Russell Broadbent and Jason Falinski all stood up in front of the party room to list their concerns with the moving claiming it undermined Liberal free market values.

Mr Morrison has tried to re-set the narrative away from Mr Turnbull’s ongoing interventions, announcing it would now take a two-thirds majority party room vote to knife sitting Prime Ministers.

Mr Turnbull yesterday gave his support to the reforms, but added cautiously “time will tell” how effective they will be.

“I think what’s been recognised … is that the leadership change in August this year, on the 24th of August, did considerable damage to the Liberal Party.”

Malcolm Turnbull's timeline of treachery.

Mr Turnbull’s remarks allowed Labor seizing on the intervention in question time.

Mr Morrison tried to rally his party room, urging them to prepare to campaign strongly ahead of the election.

“As we hear into next year it’s time to move into full engagement with the enemy,” he said. “To sharpen up the message even stronger than we have already.”

Mr Morrison urged his MPs to focus on their ground game in electorates and how Australia will be “stronger” under a Liberal-Nationals government.

In a veiled slap down of Mr Turnbull, Mr Morrison also received support from former PM John Howard over his intervention in the Craig Kelly preselection.

“There is nothing unusual about a prime minister getting involved in an appropriate way in the procedures of preselection,” he told Sky News.

“It happened years ago with Bob Menzies, I was aware of it when I sat on the NSW state executive of the Liberal Party. It happened when I was prime minister.

“What Scott has done is not in any way out of the ordinary­.”

The decision to save Mr Kelly though has sparked major recriminations within the moderate faction.

Moderate Liberal and member of the NSW state executive Sally Betts has blasted moderate leaders Trent Zimmermann and Matt Kean for backing Mr Kelly, who she labelled a “thug”.

The factional war threatens to destabilise both levels of government ahead of the election.

Originally published as Malcolm Turnbull’s hot air on energy guarantee is haunting Prime Minister Scott Morrison