‘He came. He saw. He conked out. Mal’s need to be loved became his weakness’

Malcolm Turnbull takes a bigger picture with Indonesian president Joko Widodo. Picture AFP

Welcome to the column where you provide the content. The king is gone but he’s not forgotten: Simon Benson’s exclusive piece on what Malcolm Turnbull really thinks about his friends and foes burst upon a nation in need of a distraction — Mr Harbourside Mansion’s shameless revisionism and epic axe-grinding prompting thousands of reader comments. Tom Switzer, meantime, concluded that while Mr Turnbull might have become the king, he couldn’t pull the sword from the stone.

John saw a decline and fall:
“He came, he saw, he conked out. Malcolm’s need to be loved, born of his childhood, which drove him to succeed, became his biggest weakness.”

T’s theory:

“Just because someone speaks well doesn’t make them a natural leader. I have a saying: ‘The best boss is the one who didn’t really want the job’. That is Scott Morrison.”

Lawrence liked that:

“A very astute observation. It reminds me of the ‘Peter Principle’ where one, ostensibly doing a fair job, finally gets promoted to a position in which they are not competent. That was Malcolm Turnbull.”

Ivan observed:

“That’s the difference between Turnbull and his book. One has a spine.”

Arvid’s assessment:

“Kerry Packer did not build a fortune by being a poor judge of horse flesh. He was direct, made few mistakes and certainly not twice. He said of Turnbull do not get between him and a pile of gold.

“This tells you all you need to know about the bloke and every action inside and outside parliament can be viewed through this prism. Gullible is the attribute people have who do not understand Packers statement relative to Malcolm. Take the climate scam. He only sees a pot of gold, the sycophants who projected him believe he is interested in saving the world to do the opposite in the way he lives.

“Money is funny, some people have enough and are content, for many there is never enough and some will go to any lengths. Some rare people who have enough and live simple lives actually use it to help those less fortunate than themselves.

“Seagulls and chips are like people and money. You ever noticed? The noisiest one is the fattest. Chases away all the smaller ones or ones which are infirm and quiet, instead, greedily gobbling up all the food.”

Biblical: Malcolm points to his rightful place in the political pantheon. Picture: Adam Taylor

Carl’s contribution:
“He didn’t offer much and delivered even less. An empty vessel wrapped in the trappings of power. A sad bundle of over valued self-worth. His apparent desperate need to so vindictively dump on his former colleagues is an indication he was never suited after-all to enter the cut and thrust of national politics.”

Spam, said Pam:

“Turnbull’s book is a terrible waste of forest products. Biomass burning for power and industry would be a much better option and far less polluting.”

Christopher chirped:

“I remember when he was booted out an he deleted all his social media followers The Guardian journos Murphy and Taylor were retained amongst the few still standing. No surprise really.”

Meg mused:
“Turnbull made his run too early. I can imagine the current Labor Party that has moved from being the champions of the working class to the champions of the progressive/elitist Left would now welcome him with open arms. Nevertheless, it is good to see that the greatly maligned Deplorables who were onto his intentions very early, were indeed correct. One question still nags though. Why on earth did the otherwise politically astute John Howard encourage him to stay on after Mal’s first disastrous stint as Liberal leader?”

Andrew’s analysis:
“Turnbull is a profound narcissist. He had no plan for the nation, only one for himself, namely self-aggrandisement. Narcissists use others and are brittle, so it’s no surprise that he venomously throws his former colleagues under the bus in his new book.”

David was disappointed:
“Turnbull was driven to get the top job but struggled once he got there. Those of us in the Canberra bubble often saw an angry, ruthless and determined individual oozing with talent. Turnbull created so much animus and turbulence on his career trajectory that it was inevitable he would fail when he became PM.

“But there are some important systemic factors at work. We now see paralysis and sclerosis in our contemporary politics. We have certainly lost a lot of faith in Australia with our political leaders. That is a huge pity as they have been a very talented lot. Unfortunately many in the demos fall for the fourth estate’s lazy journalism. The media routinely turns on our leaders. They focus on the negatives and will write a leadership speculation story rather than an analytical piece on public policies. And as consumers we lap it up. It is our own fault. There is now a revolving leadership door. Enter at your own peril. 

“Leaders such as Rudd, Gillard, Turnbull, Abbott, Fraser, Whitlam, and Keating have all been ridiculed over the years. We seem determined to cut down our best and brightest. Howard copped his fair share of relentless criticism over the years but is cast as something of a hero these days, even though he was unceremoniously dumped by his electorate which preferred a TV newsreader new to politics. Frankly he was as ambitious and scheming as any of them. “Hawke largely skates through as he was at least up front about his own failings. Our latest incumbent, Morrison, was toast after Christmas but has been saved by a virus. Like many other leaders, Turnbull will write about treachery and incompetence overlooking his own climb to the top and his own behaviour.”

Paul’s point:

“If the tone of the publication is portrayed correctly by the excerpts in the article it’s a real shame that the book wasn’t released a month earlier to partially solve the toilet paper shortage.

“Turnbull was always irrelevant and an epilogue to the PM revolving door phase (both sides) and the present stability we will hopefully enjoy for a time.

“I think we’re curious inasmuch as we’ll try the funky ice cream flavours for a while but vanilla is still the most popular. Now more than ever PM Morrison seems to offer ‘heart on the sleeve’ truth and for that alone we should be grateful. “

Godwin Grech, growled Gavin:

“How do I remember Turnbull? The man who was rejected by the Labor Party and joined the Liberal Party and after gaining the Leadership of the opposition completely overplayed his hand with Godwin Grech, making a prime ass of himself. He then couldn’t read his electorate and blew the climate debate before being defeated as Party Leader. Instead of slipping away quietly he then came back and undermined the then Prime Minister in every possible way. “Achieving the PM position through backstabbing he then went on to conduct one of the worst campaigns in living memory nearly blowing a huge majority to just retain power. His dithering and indecision then cost him nearly every poll whilst in power, his polling being even worse than the man he destroyed with his constant leaking and backstabbing.

“The poor polling eventually caught up with him and when put to the test by his party he folded and resigned stating he wasn’t going to be a miserable ghost but true to form he’s out there again backstabbing and trying to undermine. Not a good look Malcolm and a very poor page in history you will make.”

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Sofa, so good: Julie Bishop tries to fall asleep by counting her likes on Instagram.

Caroline Overington took over Strewth! duties this week, with revelations of an expanding lockdown lexicon, adding terms like “hamsteren” (Dutch for hoarding) and “geisterspiel” (German for a game played with no crowd) and “quarantini” (any COVID cocktail) to old favourites like “covidiots’ and “caremongering”. She also threw in a bonus happy snap of Julie Bishop on the sofa in her shorts. Mark was unamused:

“In regards to Julie Bishop, it must be nice and comfortable, working from home COVID-style, when you have the benefit of an indexed $177,000 per annum taxpayer-paid defined benefit pension, guaranteed by the Government of course; paid to her last day on earth. Oh and the additional $75,000 per annum taxpayer honorarium for being the ANU Chancellor, to shake the hands of graduates a couple of times a year.”

Timothy tut-tutted:

“Julie, vain show pony.”

Martin didn’t mind:
“Looks like Julie is checking my Tinder profile.”

Rob’t responded:

“You can’t have it both ways, Caroline. You describe the people enjoying a park as idiots, and yet the police as heavy handed for their dumb and pointless interfering in every facet of our lives. Which do you want? As for Julie Bishop, she fell in love with herself decades ago and has been faithful ever since. “

Brad was glad:
“I hope she is calling Hillary to get back our taxpayer funds from the Clinton Foundation.”

Amanda was appreciative:
“Well done Caroline! Great work. Totally loved the bat joke. No doubt would be hammered by those without a sense of humour. I loved it. Give us more! And I wish I looked like that working from home. How does (Julie Bishop) make hot pink sport shorts look fashionable?”

Lily lamented:

“It’s obvious from the comments here that conservatives will never forgive Julie Bishop for siding with Turnbull instead of Abbott. But are the venomous attacks every time she is mentioned in The Australian really necessary? Time to move on I think.”

Rumbled, said Rick:

“Look at the background of the two photographs. (Has) Julie strategically placed some books for each shoot?”

Last word to Peter:

“The endless attention seeking, and vanity of Julie Bishop, is really unattractive. However the awarding of Department of Foreign Affairs contracts to Palladian, of which she is now a board member, is actually of much more concern.”

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