Leigh Sales tells the Prime Minister she is the one who asks the questions

LEIGH Sales put Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull firmly in his place when he attempted to sidestep some of her tougher questions.

HE WAS on the ABC program to promote his new billion dollar innovation policy but when the questions went “off message” Malcolm Turnbull tried to flip the interview his way.

However, 7.30 host Leigh Sales was having none of it and put the Prime Minister firmly in his place.

It began when Sales asked Mr Turnbull about the controversy surrounding MP Mal Brough.

Mr Brough is accused of misleading Parliament over whether he asked James Ashby, a former staffer of Peter Slipper, to copy the former Speaker’s diary in a matter being investigated by police.

He also refused to discuss whether Mr Brough had offered to step down telling Sales that he didn’t want to “go into the ins and outs of Mr Brough’s remarks, but certainly it’s an issue that we’re all very keenly aware of, but there is an investigation under way and it will take its course”.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on 7.30. Picture: ABC

When Sales asked if this issue could end up being a thorn in his side like Craig Thomson was for Julia Gillard, that’s when things kicked off.

Not wanting to answer the question, Mr Turnbull tried to deflect by passive-aggressively saying “Again, I’m sorry you’ve lost interest in innovation.”

But Sales fired back: “There’s lots of issues, we can’t walk and chew gum at the same time?

“The problem is we can’t,” Mr Turnbull replied.

Sales: “If every guest on the program came on and they only got to talk about what they wanted to talk about, it would be a very different program. Now listen -”.

Turnbull: “Let me ask you this question, how interested do you think -”

Sales: “I ask the questions on this program. I think they’re very interested quite frankly.”

The 7.30 host then proceeded to ask the Prime Minister about how he felt about the defection of Ian Macfarlane to the National Party.

She pointed out that a number of Liberal party members had criticised the move including Attorney-General George Brandis who said it had “left a bad taste in people’s mouths”.

Again Mr Turnbull didn’t want to answer and looked uncomfortable when Sales asked if he considered the matter a betrayal by the Deputy PM, Warren Truss.

“Is it a betrayal that your Deputy PM Warren Truss didn’t inform you that these sorts of discussions were going on?” Sales asked.

“I don’t want to — again, I’m very keen to talk about the agenda, the reform agenda, the innovation agenda that will provide great jobs and exciting business opportunities for your children and your grandchildren, but the internal workings of the Coalition are really best discussed internally.”

Mr Turnbull launched his $1 billion innovation blueprint today, his government’s first major policy since he ousted Tony Abbott.

The main aim of the policy is to create a new economy for the future based on science and innovation.

One of the many commitments under the package is the creation of a special cabinet committee which will oversee the key measures outlined by the PM.

Mr Turnbull said $48 million will be spent over the next four years to encourage students to study science, technology, engineering and maths from kindy to university and around $13 million of that will be directed to young girls and women.

But when Sales asked the PM how his government intended to do that, Mr Turnbull couldn’t really explain.

He said it was all about creating “awareness” because it was “actually one of the biggest challenges we face”.

“The percentage of women of girls studying maths for example for the final year of high school has been declining. It’s lower now than it was.”

When pushed further by Sales who pointed out $13 million had been set aside “to change that”, Mr Turnbull said it was also about finding “role models”.

“You’ll find one of the things schools are doing now is finding role models, women who are doing well in technology companies,” he said. “Maile Carnegie, who’s the head of Google here is a great example. There are many others, so that girls understand that this is an area where they can prosper, where they can succeed, where they can do well.”

Another aspect of the package is changes to insolvency laws which would allow entrepreneurs to “bounce back” from bankruptcy from three years to one.

When Sales asked the Prime Minister whether this measure risked propping up mediocre businesses and business people, Mr Turnbull replied that Australia’s laws were outdated and needing to be amended to foster “business continuity”.