Is anyone else worried about Malcolm Turnbull?

Malcolm Turnbull is still unable to come to terms with the inconsequentiality of his prime ministership, writes Janet Albrechtsen.

Malcolm Turnbull said on Sunday “there’s no point pulling my punches”. Oh, but there is a point. For Turnbull’s own sake, he should give it a rest. Say no next time The Project calls. Say no when the executive producer of the 7.30 program calls, be strong, say no when Radio National’s Patricia Karvelas says: “How about it, mate?”

Maybe no one at the ABC invited Turnbull on their program last week. It was especially sad to see a former prime minister sitting on a panel on The Project. Doesn’t the poor bugger have better things to do on a Sunday night?

When Turnbull called his former colleague and now Opposition Leader Peter Dutton a “thug” on The Project, the panel laughed. So did the audience.

Can’t Turnbull see people aren’t so much laughing with him, more at him? Turnbull has become our own Joe Biden – minus the medical senility and public office.

Like Biden, the more Turnbull talks, the more obvious it becomes that he should, for his own sake, stop.

Like Biden, there appears to be no one close to the former prime minister who can see how he is destroying his own reputation, while he indulges delusions of grandeur about having an impact on the careers of people he regards as his enemies.

In Canberra, Turnbull was known for having young sycophants in his office, and older ones with little judgment too. But now, why don’t those who love and care for Turnbull give him advice he needs to hear? For his sake. And maybe for theirs.

The former prime minister should be happy: he is cashed up, he has a lovely family, grandchildren. Surely no one in their right mind, only someone still brooding about failure, would keep harping about his political enemies with such venom almost six years after he left office?

The problem for Turnbull is that each time he airs his bile for his former colleagues in the Liberal Party, the smaller he becomes.

Malcolm Turnbull and Lucy Turnbull at the National Press Club of Australia in Canberra. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

He was prime minister for just under three years. He was booted out in August 2018. He has now spent twice as long as a former PM openly sledging his former Liberal colleagues, as he did in office. Who can remember what he did in office anymore?

His latest appearance on the weekend is a reminder that Turnbull is the worst former prime minister the country has had in modern times. He’s no Malcolm Fraser, who was also known to be a critic of the Liberal Party. Unlike Fraser, Turnbull’s self-proclaimed morality judgments turn into personal abuse.

When Turnbull called Dutton a “thug” it was not clever, not constructive.

He’s fallen into that trap of thinking people he disagrees with are morally inferior to him. The left does it all the time. It’s woefully lazy. If their political opponents descended to the same low-rent personal attacks, they’d scream blue murder.

Some say Turnbull is the Liberal version of Kevin Rudd. That’s not fair either. Not fair to Rudd.

To be sure, there are similarities on the narcissistic personality scale. But Rudd has never appeared as vindictive as Turnbull, for so long. But then Rudd may have parked his need for revenge in the hope of some nice appointments. Sending him to DC was a good way to shut the man up – for a time.

Kevin Rudd

Turnbull has some similarities with Donald Trump. With ego-driven determination, they both used a political party as a conduit to power. Donors gave money to the Liberal Party in the belief Turnbull would be a decent prime minister and a decent former PM. He’s failed them twice. No wonder many think the bloke is a rat.

Both considered themselves bigger than their party, and political norms. As prime minister, Turnbull fought with then attorney-general Christian Porter as to whether to drag the governor-general into deciding whether Dutton should be disqualified under the Constitution given an upcoming leadership spill. Porter opposed Turnbull’s plan. Turnbull wasn’t happy.

When Warren Entsch added his name to a list of 43 signatories calling for a second leadership ballot against Turnbull in August 2018, he added three words under his name – “for Brendan Nelson”. It was a reminder of Turnbull’s wretched and disloyal treatment of Nelson during his short stint as leader.

If Turnbull is working his way through that list, determined to sledge those who dared to question his leadership, then first place as party rat is his.

That said, the last thing the Libs should do is expel Turnbull. That would allow him to wear the mantle of a martyr. Few deserve that less than Turnbull. The more critical question is for Turnbull, a man with such a high regard for self-proclaimed moral standing: Why isn’t he doing the right thing and handing in his Liberal Party membership?

What has Turnbull done for the Liberal Party since he left parliament? Is the former Liberal PM helping Roanne Knox, the new Liberal candidate for his old seat of Wentworth? Or is he helping the teal in that seat, Allegra Spender?

Malcolm Turnbull during the lead-in to the voice referendum.

Turnbull’s post-politics behaviour is now his lasting legacy. He’s at home on the left, adopting its same histrionics. When Dutton became leader, then Western Australian premier Mark McGowan called him an “extremist”, a man who doesn’t “fit with modern Australia”.

“I actually don’t think he’s that smart,” McGowan said.

Tanya Plibersek attacked Dutton for looking like Voldemort, the evil lord from Harry Potter who scares kids and wizards. It was tacky. At least Plibersek apologised.

Can anyone imagine Turnbull apologising for his mean-spirited outbursts? Showing grace, not hurling four-letter words, wins you respect. Especially if you’re no longer in politics. Can anyone imagine John Howard or Julia Gillard appearing on The Project years after losing office – or indeed ever – and calling one of their past internal enemies a “thug”?

Unlike Biden, what Turnbull does won’t impact the country. But it will impact how history remembers him. A man who spends a good part of his public life after being prime minister on X, on the ABC and on The Project, railing against his enemies, cementing his real legacy as the country’s most disgruntled former leader, still unable to come to terms with the inconsequentiality of his prime ministership.

Turnbull has become a pantomime of political and personal hatred, and he can’t see it. What a shame someone close to him can’t help the man move on.