Turnbull on gay marriage: ‘I am the prime minister, but not a dictator’

HE WAS battling a heavy cold, but Malcolm Turnbull still had enough energy to start a stoush with Q&A’s host last night.

HE WAS battling a heavy cold, which perhaps explained the leeway given by host Tony Jones, but Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull got through Q&A with his voice and policy messages intact.

He even managed a good-natured stoush with the host.

Sporting that cold, but not the famous leather jacket, Turnbull opened hoarse and warmed up quickly. At one point he jokingly called out the perceived left-wing bias of Q&A, labelling Tony Jones a defender of the Labor Party.

The joke came as Turnbull spoke about the Budget, and Jones tried to move things along.

“I have to jump in here ...” the host interrupted.

“Of course you do,” Turnbull said, smiling: “You have to defend the Labor Party, Tony.”

He then congratulated Jones for explaining Labor Party policy.

“I’ve never heard them explain it quite as well as you. You should do more work for them,” he said.

On the whole, viewers didn’t seem to agree with the PM’s assessment. Turnbull’s Q&A spot followed Opposition Leader Bill Shorten’s a week ago, and many on Twitter felt Jones gave him an easier ride than his opponent. It took almost an hour before Jones suggested he “answer this one quickly”.

In a marathon session, the PM insisted he had no plans to privatise Medicare, retained his personal support of gay marriage (but wouldn’t budge on the question of holding a plebiscite), stuck by cuts to company tax, danced around a question from a Manus Island detainee and stuck fast with his view his government had corrected Labor’s NBN “disaster”.

These were some of the big moments.

SAME-SEX MARRIAGE

Turnbull raised a few nods from the audience as he answered a question from the mother of a gay son, who wants him to be able to get married, just like his straight siblings.

@QandA Can we please have a plebiscite on having a plebiscite? #qanda

— The Anchor (@AnchorTheatre) June 20, 2016

She challenged him to forgo the cost of a plebiscite and just amend the law within the Marriage Act. “We elect representatives into Parliament. Just show me some leadership by doing your job,” the mother challenged.

Turnbull said while her point was compelling - and he personally was a supporter of gay marriage - the agreement for a plebiscite was a government decision before he became PM.

She cut in “But you’re the Prime Minister”

He replied: “I am the PM, but I’m not a dictator.”

“Some people like the idea of prime ministers that ignore their colleagues. I don’t agree with that,” he said.

“And that means ... respecting the views of those in your Cabinet and in your party room that you may not agree with.”

Earlier, on the subject of the plebiscite, he said two-thirds of Australians “would rather have a say on this issue than leave it entirely to the politicians. For good or ill, that’s where we are”.

TRUST

Turnbull’s welcoming opening beam quickly gave way to game face when he fielded the “why should we trust you?” questions.

There was a flash of combativeness when one questioner observed: “A bit over six months ago the Liberal party made you the PM on the promise that you weren’t Tony Abbott. Now, in two weeks ...”

Turnbull cut in: “I think that was a penetrating glimpse of the obvious.”

The questioner laboured on: “But the real problem is that in two weeks you hope to continue in the same position on the argument that you’re not Malcolm Turnbull either. Are you?”

Turnbull replied: “I’m 61 years of age. I’ve been a public figure one way or another for many years, for decades. I think every Australian knows who I am and knows what I stand for.”

He then spent the rest of the show outlining at length what he did stand for hitting all the standard Turnbull talking points.

MEDICARE

Turnbull had spent most of the day hosing down what he termed Labor’s “big lie” of the campaign — the suggestion he’d privatise Medicare.

“Medicare is a core Government service. Medicare services delivered by Government today will be undertaken by Government in the future. That is my absolute unequivocal commitment.”

That guarantee, he said, “absolutely” included the payment system, which won’t be outsourced.

By now he was on such familiar turf, he even stepped up as host for a bit, cutting off Jones mid-question to say “can we stop ignoring your audience member?”

TAXES

He defended his plan for company tax cuts, even making voters an offer.

Outlining the first three years of the cuts — and saying they would benefit mostly “small and medium businesses”, he challenged “You can then choose to chuck me out as PM if you don’t like those three years if I’m elected,” he said.

MENTAL HEALTH

Asked “when is enough” and for a commitment to suicide prevention funding by a grieving father who has lost two children to suicide, Turnbull said mental health was not a partisan issue.

Asked why then, the Government was cutting early psychosis intervention in the Headspace centres, the Prime Minister said “the answer is we are not. Their funding is committed and secure.”

ASYLUM SEEKERS

The attempted “gotcha” moment of the night — if there was one — came from a Manus Island questioner, asking why he had been imprisoned for three years.

Asked could Turnbull offer the man any hope he will be released, Turnbull made no apology for the government’s tough policy. He said the policy was working, and stops drownings at sea.

“None of us have hearts of stone. All of us understand how harsh it is,” he said. “We have stopped the boats. I grant you it is tough. but the alternative is far worse.”