Calling out Turnbull for his puerile revenge mission

Your extraordinary editorial “Alternative facts do not belong in serious debate” (14-15/11) dissected Malcolm Turnbull forensically, nerve by nerve. I haven’t been a viewer of, or listener to, the ABC for many years, but I watched an excerpt from last Monday’s Q&A on Sky News in which an agitated Turnbull verbally attacked your editor-at-large, Paul Kelly. It was astonishing to see such behaviour from a former prime minister. Kelly was calm and decisive in his rebuttal of the accusations put forward.

Turnbull never recovered from his replacement as leader of the Liberals in 2009 and forever blamed Tony Abbott for his sacking. This is why he undermined Abbott as prime minister from early 2013, attempting to regain his position. We all remember the consequences of that treachery.

Your editorial adduced the character and political history of Turnbull perfectly, so I suggest to him now that he hang up his boxing gloves, apologise to Abbott and enjoy the rest of his life in Point Piper, or wherever he wishes to be.

Lesley Beckhouse, Queanbeyan, NSW

What a concise, well-deserved and brilliant editorial. Like pathetic voices crying in the wilderness, Malcolm Turnbull and Kevin Rudd have lost any credibility or respect they ever enjoyed. Perhaps the most deserving description of Turnbull and Rudd is the editorial’s labelling of both as disgruntled Muppets “Statler and Waldorf”. Both former PMs deserve all the public criticism that comes their way. Their respect for the right to free speech and alternative opinions of their fellow Australians is negligible, as is their respect for each other (after missing out on nomination for the UN secretary-general’s position, Rudd reportedly called Turnbull “You little f..king rat, you piece of shit”). The Australian can rest assured that the criticism of these two self-absorbed “faux PMs” offends no one other than their left-wing devotees at the ABC.

Lyle Geyer, Essendon, Vic

Congratulations on your timely, objective editorial “Alternative facts do not belong in serious debate”. You have summed things up clearly and nailed the facts firmly. For many years, it seems, I have been scorned by friends and family members for stubbornly buying first the printed edition and now the digital form of The Australian — also now and then venturing into The Guardian, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and even on occasion The Saturday Paper. For the clearest and least biased information I continue to return to The Australian. I do this because at times the excellent commentators challenge my thoughts; they usually inform my opinion; I know where the writers are coming from; and they are always well written — something too often missing from other publications. One other point: on inquiring as to why friends and family members scorn the reading of this publication I learned that they do not even bother to buy or read it.

I can well remember The Australian endorsing Kevin Rudd in 2007. It seems Kevin and Malcolm want to read (and watch) papers and programs that endorse only their ideas. They need to get out and about in the real world — as most of your journalists seem to do.

Glenda Ellis, Bardon, Qld

The 2007 election saw The Australian endorse Kevin Rudd as prime minister. Prime minister John Howard not only lost the election but lost his seat. Has he been bitter and twisted, waging war against the Murdoch press? No, he has acted as a grown-up and got on with life.

Thomas and Annette James, Beauty Point, Tas

So far the ABC has been on a blood-letting mission on the greyhound industry, the horse-racing industry, our special forces, the Catholic Church and now it is giving globalist attack-poodles Kevin Rudd and Malcolm Turnbull air time to character assassinate Rupert Murdoch.

Surely it’s time people saw a pattern emerging here of a globalist Marxist assault on Western institutions via the sympathetic media.

CNN has led the way in America on Donald Trump for the past four years yet people still are none the wiser. As Nancy Pelosi said, “We have won the war”, and this is how the Left perceives it, a virtual war where they use their media as a weaponised platform to destroy the character, credentials and credibility of their adversaries.

Robert Brown, Davistown, NSW