Zipping Turnbull’s tent

An email calling for Malcolm Turnbull to be expelled from the Liberal Party and slapped with a lifetime ban is circulating in NSW.

Former Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. Picture: Dylan Robinson

Could the dysfunctional relationship between Malcolm Bligh Turnbull and the Liberal Party finally be set for a hostile divorce?

As reported in the robust news pages of this august organ, an email calling for Turnbull to be expelled from the party and slapped with a lifetime ban was circulated by conservative Christian Ellis to fellow members of the NSW Liberal state executive on Sunday afternoon. (Although, according to one senior Liberal source, the NSW state exec doesn’t have the power to expel, only to suspend someone for three to five years).

Malcolm Turnbull’s new book. Picture: Supplied

If such a motion were successful, Strewth understands this would be the first time anyone has been chastised with a lifetime Liberal membership ban. And Australian’s 29th prime minister, no less! Keeping in mind that Australia’s 22nd PM, Malcolm Fraser, quit the Liberal Party of his own volition in 2009.

Ellis — a former Turnbull government adviser — was scathing in his email rebuke of the former Liberal leader’s scorched-earth book, A Bigger Picture (and nationwide tour), officially published on Monday.

“Malcolm Turnbull has shown in the last few weeks how he is not a servant of the Liberal Party, but himself,” Ellis wrote. “This is not a motion of vengeance or spite. His membership needs to be terminated because if he continues to keep attacking the party as a member, or connected in any way, he damages the party brand.” So much for the notion that it's better for aggrieved members to be inside the tent pissing out, than outside the tent pissing in!

A well-placed Liberal mused to Strewth: “I find it interesting that last year Tony Abbott received an award for service to the party and this year they’re looking at banning Malcolm. It says a lot about him.”

With face-to-face meetings banned under COVID-19 social-distancing rules, we understand the NSW Liberals have been meeting over Zoom, and their next virtual hook-up is scheduled for May 1. We’ll keep you posted.

-

Abbott rates a mention

Here’s something that will only spur the conservatives’ cause. Those in the know tell Strewth that Abbott is mentioned at least 642 times in Turnbull’s opus. “Obsessed much?” one Liberal exclaimed. Well … Abbott is the suppository of all wisdom!

-

E-book does the rounds

Hasn’t it been a big weekend for Turnbull? Encrypted messaging apps and emails were working overtime across our wide brown land, with “unauthorised” copies of A Bigger Picture furiously forwarded between Liberal, National and even Labor MPs and staffers. Why?

First, it’s much easier to ctrl+f search through a PDF to find out if you’ve scored a memoir mention.

A media release from publishers Hardie Grant following revelations a pirated copy of Malcolm Turnbull's A Bigger Picture was being circulated. Picture: Supplied

Second, to punish Turnbull for his criticism of “control freak” Scott Morrison, Greg Hunt and Peter Dutton. And third, to prevent people paying the $19.99 pre-order price on Apple Books — down more than 63 per cent from the recommended retail price of $55. An effort to stop their former leader scoring a place on the bestsellers list (safe to say Turnbull doesn’t need the money).

“One final f-you,” one disgruntled Lib said of the man nicknamed Mr Harbourside Mansion. But lo! A legal stoush is looming! In a sensational statement, Sandy Grant, the chief executive of publisher Hardie Grant, blamed the “calculated” book breach on Morrison’s office, claiming the bootlegged e-book could have been hacked (from the handful of hardcover review copies, we wonder?), and fired off a cease-and-desist notice.

“What drew this to our attention was the distribution of the pirated edition from an address from within the PMO (Prime Minister’s Office), sent to people who reported the illegal edition,” Grant said.

-

No gain for Payne

Foreign Minister Marise Payne kept mum on ABC Insiders about who leaked her a copy.

Payne: I’ve not been responsible for disseminating any, David.
David Speers: Did you receive one?
Payne: I've received and deleted. And I would encourage anyone who had received (it) to do the same thing.
Speers: Did it come from the Prime Minister’s Office? This is the suggestion from the publisher.
Payne: Absolutely not.
Speers: Who did it come from?
Payne: David, I’ve received and deleted. That's the most important thing.
Speers: You won’t tell us who it’s come from?
Payne: Received and deleted.
Speers: I take that as a no answer?
Payne: (silent but smiling)
Speers: I think we will.

.@David_Speers: @TurnbullMalcolm and his publisher, pretty fired up that pirated electronic copies of his book have been circulating this weekend far and wide. Have you received a copy?@MarisePayne: I've received and deleted. That's the most important thing.#Auspol pic.twitter.com/OrGbjh9pu1

— Insiders ABC (@InsidersABC) April 18, 2020

Water Minister David Littleproud confessed he too received and deleted a copy from a “personal friend” via WhatsApp. But Health Minister Hunt (who was in line to be Dutton’s deputy during his failed 2018 leadership spill) said bluntly: “I’m not aware of that and I certainly haven’t read it, and I can’t see any circumstances under which I’ll have the time to be reading it.”

[e-mail]