Derryn Hinch’s advice for nation’s leaders detailed in book on his first year in the Senate

JOURNALIST turned senator Derryn Hinch has urged Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to follow Gough Whitlam’s lead and “crash through or crash”.

JOURNALIST turned senator Derryn Hinch has urged Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to follow Gough Whitlam’s lead and “crash through or crash”, warning Bill Shorten would otherwise become “the Steven Bradbury of Canberra”.

The rookie politician’s ­advice to the nation’s leaders is detailed in his new book, Hinch vs. Canberra: Behind the Human Headlines, which exposes the backroom dealings, arguments and policy wins from his first year in parliament.

The book, out today, contains a string of eye-­opening tales about the politicians with whom Senator Hinch has crossed paths — or swords.

The ex-broadcaster, who set up the Justice Party and was elected last year, said the PM was an “honest and decent man” who had been “hogtied” by conservatives in his party.

“I invoked legendary Hawthorn coach John Kennedy, ‘Do something! Do a Gough,’ I urged him. ‘Crash through or crash’,” Senator Hinch recalled. “Be the man remembered for bringing Australia marriage equality or solving the energy crisis.”

The cover of Hinch vs. Canberra: Behind the Human Headlines.

The book details how Tony Abbott left Senator Hinch a voicemail telling him to “shut the f--- up” after he said the former prime minister’s supporters were leaking to Labor leader Mr Shorten.

Senator Hinch said Mr Abbott had become “unhinged” in his campaign against same-sex marriage and had done more damage to Mr Turnbull than Mr Shorten.

“His obsession with ­destroying Turnbull — even if it puts his team in the outer paddock and Shorten into the Lodge — is palpable,” Senator Hinch wrote.

He added that the Turnbull Government was pragmatic in its dealings with the Senate crossbench, unlike Mr Abbott, who he was told had poked former senator Ricky Muir “in the chest with his forefinger”.

He also had harsh words for the Opposition Leader, suggesting: “How can you believe a word he says, when his own face doesn’t believe him?”

He was more fond of Mr Shorten’s wife, Chloe, whom he met in the Birdcage during last year’s Spring Racing Carnival, saying: “Is it uncharitable to surmise that Bill is batting out of his crease?”

Derryn Hinch with Malcolm Turnbull. Picture: Kym Smith

After the Herald Sun revealed last year that Senator Hinch was drinking again, he said he saw the story coming, and it was true he would ­“occasionally drink wine with the permission of my transplant surgeon”.

He recalled falling over low steps one night at a Canberra restaurant and being worried people would say he was “back on the sauce”. But his diary also reported, from travels around Victoria, there were many new vineyards and the shiraz in Heathcote could “compete with any wine in the world”.

The book contains compliments for Treasurer Scott Morrison’s “no bulls---” ­approach, but Senator Hinch said Mr Turnbull needed to rein in senior minister Christopher Pyne, whose “seriously ­detached posturing ... makes me cringe”. Julie Bishop was ­“always the bridesmaid” and would never be PM, he wrote, while One Nation leader Pauline Hanson was an “enigma” and “not that bright”.

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Hinch vs. Canberra: Behind the Human Headlines (Melbourne University Press, $24.99) is available now.