Malcolm Turnbull heckled as he faces curly questions on Q&A

MALCOLM Turnbull enjoyed a generally sympathetic reception on Q&A last night, but for one fleeting moment, the crowd did turn on him.

MALCOLM Turnbull enjoyed a generally sympathetic reception on Q&A last night, but for one fleeting moment, the crowd did turn on him.

It happened as he responded to the toughest question of the evening. Audience member Louise Dunbar delivered a rather searing indictment of his record as prime minister.

“Mr Turnbull, early on, I thought you had a vision for Australia. I saw you as a potentially great leader, intelligent, and economically wise,” Ms Dunbar said.

“I was sadly disappointed with your time in office. You were ineffectual, not able to make the hard decisions, nor confront the media to argue your case. Unengaged with the public and biding your time towards the end.

“I would like you to take responsibility, and not blame anyone else for this. You had the opportunity, and you blew it. What do you say to the Australian public?”

“Knew I should have worn the leather jacket.” Pic: ABC

Needless to say, Mr Turnbull did not agree with her assessment.

He told her his government’s achievements “speak for themselves”, and proceeded to reel off a list of them, including strong jobs growth, tax cuts, investment in infrastructure, reformed schools funding and his own personal success in dealing with Donald Trump.

“I was able to protect the Australian steel industry and the thousands of jobs from what would have been 25 per cent tariffs to be imposed by Donald Trump. The only country at the time to get that exemption,” he said.

“I ensured that the trans-Pacific Partnership, a huge trade deal that everyone thought was sunk when Trump pulled out, was maintained, protecting thousands of jobs.

“Those are all achievements, most of which people said could not be done.”

Mr Turnbull got through all of that with few signs of dissent from the studio audience. Then he moved on to a more contentious issue — the legalisation of same-sex marriage.

“I got so much done. You know, the Labor Party used to say, ‘Oh, Malcolm used to be in favour of marriage equality, he’s no longer in favour of it.’ Then I legislated it, right? So I delivered it.”

“No. No you didn’t!” one member of the crowd interjected, as many of the people around her groaned.

“We did. We did. It’s legal!” the former prime minister shot back.

“Five thousand people have been married — 5000 same-sex couples have been married in Australia since it was legalised just about a year ago, and that was done under my government.

“Now, you know, that is a fact. It might be a melancholy fact, from some people’s point of view — from the Labor Party’s point of view, because they would have rather they did it — but it is a great Liberal achievement. A great Liberal achievement. And it was my government that delivered it.”

What does Malcolm Turnbull say to those Australians who are disappointed with his time in office? #QandA pic.twitter.com/L5rVRdobt3

— ABC Q&A (@QandA) November 8, 2018

Many viewers felt it was a bit rich of Mr Turnbull to take credit for same-sex marriage after handballing the decision to the public with the postal survey instead of simply legislating it.

It was only legalised in parliament after 7.8 million Australians — more than 60 per cent of respondents — voted in favour of it.

Still, he proudly mentioned same-sex marriage several times throughout the night.

“I got an enormous amount done. You know, think of the big social reforms. Legalising same-sex marriage, I mean, what a gigantic reform that was. I was able to do that,” Mr Turnbull said.

Malcolm Turnbull did not achieve marriage equality #QANDA

— Sally Rugg (@sallyrugg) November 8, 2018

We did this in spite of you, not because of you #qanda pic.twitter.com/c6I8bG9xts

— Rob Stott (@Rob_Stott) November 8, 2018

Dude is literally praising himself for putting LGBTQIA+ families and the people who love them through months of hell with the postal survey and this sanctioned cruelty was no achievement. None. #qanda

— Van Badham (@vanbadham) November 8, 2018

Same sex marriage was a PUBLIC achievement and one that occurred in SPITE of ALL the politicians who spent years frustrating the people's will years after opinion had shifted in favour of change. #QandA

— Latika M Bourke (@latikambourke) November 8, 2018

Marriage equality is a story of thousands of Australians, over many years, empowered to shape our country as a fairer & more equal place. Any individual or set of individuals claiming credit for other people’s work, will never understand the power of what our country did together

— Alex Greenwich MP (@AlexGreenwich) November 8, 2018

Mr Turnbull faced a couple more curly questions before the end of the show.

Andy Kent asked him what his younger self would have thought of his “failure to stand up and do something to prevent the humanitarian disasters of Nauru and Manus”.

“Given, Andy, that the young are always very critical of the old, I’m sure my young self would find plenty of shortcomings in my old self,” he responded with a chuckle.

However his old self did not seem to spot any shortcomings in his old self.

He expressed no regrets about his government’s border policies, proudly pointing out there had been no boat arrivals during his three years as prime minister.

“The one thing you don’t want to do is get the people smugglers back in business, because we know what happened under Labor, and it’ll happen again. You had 50,000 unauthorised arrivals, and you had at least 1200 deaths at sea. I don’t want that to happen again,” Mr Turnbull said.

“We’re taking 15,000 refugees a year through proper channels. We took 12,000 additionally from the Syrian conflict zone. We have one of the most generous humanitarian programs in the world. But the only proviso is that the Australian government determines which refugees come into Australia — not the people smugglers. I think that’s what Australians expect.”

“Shortcomings? I have none.” Pic: ABC

The former prime minister also faced the implication he was a hypocrite for criticising the plotters who brought down his leadership.

“In light of your involvement in every leadership ballot since the Howard Government, including two challenges for the Liberal Party leadership against both Brendon Nelson and Tony Abbott, is your own demise as party leader and prime minister something you consider to be a fair and just?” Jason Potter asked.

Mr Turnbull countered that he always had a clear rationale for his own plotting.

“I think the move to remove me in August was crazy. I think it was self-destructive, no one’s explained it, it was pointless,” he said.

“Scott Morrison can’t explain it, he’s the new prime minister. I’m the outgoing prime minister and I can’t explain it.

“With Tony Abbott I set out exactly why I sought to challenge him, I explained what my reasons were very openly, laid out my agenda, won the ballot. It was very warmly welcomed by the Australian people. We won the next election and we got a lot done.”

Host Tony Jones jumped in to say Mr Dutton “would argue” he had his own rationale for challenging Mr Turnbull.

“You can say he would argue, but he hasn’t. You say he would. He hasn’t,” Mr Turnbull shot back.

“He said he wanted to take the GST off power prices. That might be a justification for bringing a submission to the cabinet. It’s hardly a justification for overthrowing the government.”

It was the story of the night. This was not a fallen prime minister reflecting on his mistakes. It was a defiant man who still couldn’t understand why he was brought down.